Abstract: Today, with the institutionalization of shadow education, it is common for pupils to attend supplementary lessons, but the existing literature lacks discussion on the forms of tutoring. This article focuses on famil’s choice of the forms of tutoring, trying to explore the relationship between online tutoring and offline tutoring. The analysis of China Family Online Tutoring Survey conducted by CIEFR in 2018 indicates that, on the one hand, online tutoring and offline tutoring, as supplementary education choices, are subjected to parent’ education levels and expectations. On the other hand, some factors with significant impact on offline tutoring have no significant effect on online tutoring, mainly in terms of distance and income. This reflects the fact that online tutoring can reduce transportation costs and search costs, thereby lowering the threshold of household tutoring consumption and making the distribution of educational resources less uneven. Further analysis shows that, pupils participating in offline tutoring are more likely to attend online tutoring as well, both from a financial-constraint and a demand-satisfaction perspective. In other words, when parents make their tutoring decisions, they do not choose between offline and online . Instead, they choose both, which confirms the popularization of private tutoring.

Key words: online tutoring, offline tutoring, family tutoring decision