The steps followed in setting up a college writing center are outlined in this paper, and comments from two graduate students who worked as full time tutors in the center are presented. The first section of the paper describes the way faculty members determined the type of center needed at their university, how they first envisioned the center, how they obtained funding for it, and how they communicate about the center to other faculty members and to students. The second section contains the graduate students' reports, which deal with such topics as early difficulties faced by the center; the tutor's role in diagnosing students' writing problems, planning individual courses of study, and instructing students; frustrations faced by the center staff; ways in which the center can help students; and specific problems of individual students who have been helped at the center, including the problem of fear of writing. (GW)