He charges $180 an hour and parents still queue up: Meet America’s only full-time spelling bee coach who has trained champions like Dev Shah | World News

Inside crowded convention halls, hotel conference rooms and late-night Zoom classes, one man has quietly become one of the most powerful figures in American competitive spelling. Scott Remer charges families up to $180 an hour to prepare children for the Scripps National Spelling Bee and is widely believed to be the country’s only full-time elite spelling-bee coach. His students include champions such as Dev Shah and Faizan Zaki. What was once viewed as a niche academic contest has evolved into an increasingly professionalised world of high-pressure preparation, advanced linguistic strategy and premium coaching. At the centre of it all stands Scott Remer, the man many families believe can turn children into national champions.

The spelling bee coach who charges $180 an hour

Long before becoming one of the most recognised names in competitive spelling, Scott Remer was a contestant himself. He competed in the national spelling bee until 2008 and finished fourth in his final appearance.According to Remer, that experience stayed with him long after the competition ended. What began as a passion for words and language gradually evolved into a full-time profession built entirely around training elite young spellers.Born and raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, Remer later graduated from Yale University in 2016 before earning a master’s degree from University of Cambridge a year later.He published his first spelling-bee guidebook, Words of Wisdom: Keys to Success in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, while still a teenager. Over time, he expanded into full-time tutoring and eventually moved to Mexico City, where he now coaches students remotely in spelling, languages, writing and test preparation.Remer’s reputation grew because of one thing above all else that is results. According to an Associated Press report, he has coached five national spelling bee champions and worked with at least 29 contestants during each of the last four national competitions. As the bee narrows toward its final rounds each year, multiple contestants are often current or former Remer students.Among the best-known names linked to him are Dev Shah, who won the national title in 2023, and Faizan Zaki, who won in 2025. Former champion Anamika Veeramani was also one of the earliest winners he coached.His visibility inside the spelling world became so strong that championship photos frequently showed Remer standing beside winning contestants holding copies of his spelling-bee guidebook.

Why parents pay up to $180 an hour

Elite spelling coaching has quietly become a serious business in the United States. Remer reportedly charges as much as $180 for a one-hour private lesson. In some cases, he also receives performance-based bonuses tied to competition winnings. According to the Associated Press, the father of Faizan Zaki said Remer received 7% of the champion’s prize money after the 2025 victory.Despite the high prices, many parents continue to seek him out because of his track record.Students and families say his lessons go far beyond simple memorisation. Rather than drilling only vocabulary lists, Remer teaches language origins, pronunciation systems, spelling structures, root words and linguistic patterns across multiple languages. The idea is to help contestants logically figure out unfamiliar words during competitions even if they have never encountered them before.Supporters say that approach gives students a deeper understanding of language and a competitive advantage during difficult rounds.

An intense coaching style that divides opinion

Not everyone, however, believes the system is entirely positive.Former students and parents interviewed by the Associated Press described Remer’s teaching style as highly demanding and academically intense. Some said younger students struggled with the pressure and eventually switched to other tutors who offered more relaxed teaching environments.Even some supporters acknowledged that Remer sets extremely high expectations for middle-school-age contestants.Former finalist Simone Kaplan described him as a “true logophile” who pushes students aggressively to keep up with his level of linguistic knowledge. Remer himself acknowledged that he tries to adapt his methods to different personalities and learning styles, though he admitted that balancing intensity and encouragement is not always easy.

How spelling bees became ultra-competitive

The rise of coaches like Scott Remer reflects a much larger transformation happening inside competitive spelling.Over the past decade, spelling bees in America have evolved from relatively straightforward academic contests into highly specialised competitions involving year-round preparation, advanced linguistic analysis and extensive historical word databases.Many top contestants now work with multiple coaches and spend years studying etymology, language systems and pronunciation rules at an elite level.The shift accelerated after the famous 2019 “octo-champs” event, when eight contestants tied for first place after exhausting the competition’s prepared word lists. Since then, families and contestants have increasingly approached spelling bees more like elite sports or music competitions than traditional school activities.

The debate around elite spelling coaching

The growing professionalisation of spelling bees has also triggered debate about fairness and accessibility.Some parents and former contestants argue that expensive coaching creates advantages for wealthier families who can afford private tutoring and intensive preparation. Alternative coaches often charge far lower rates, with some former contestants tutoring students for around $50 to $75 an hour.Others argue that coaching itself is not the deciding factor and that the real work still comes from the students.Scripps National Spelling Bee does not officially endorse private coaching, but organisers acknowledge that coaching has become a normal part of the modern competition landscape.Executive director Corrie Loeffler said the achievements ultimately belong to the children themselves and still depend heavily on discipline, study habits and long-term dedication.In many ways, Scott Remer represents the new era of American competitive spelling, one where vocabulary, language patterns and childhood competitions have become part of a much larger high-performance ecosystem.