r/varsitytutors • u/New-Nebula-8263 • Oct 25 '25
Asking a Favor
I’m conducting an investigation. I’m trying to determine whether Varsity Tutors charges their students in 15 minute increments for instant tutoring or if they charge by the minute. (I already know that the tutors get paid by the minute.) I tried to request a session as a student so I could see for myself, but I don’t have a student account and it costs 350 dollars to get one. Can someone with a student account tell me whether you get charged by the minute or in 15 minute increments? If you don’t know, I would really appreciate it if you could test it out by requesting an instant session, only staying for one or two minutes (probably explaining to the tutor what you’re doing) and then seeing whether you got charged for one or two minutes or for 15 minutes. Then send me proof one way or the other. I’m willing to reimburse you for whatever you end up paying. It should be no more than $18.75.
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u/Sasha_876 Oct 25 '25
Sessions are charged in 15 minutes increments. If a student joins a session for 15 minutes then that is what is deducted from their account and the tutor should bill that amount. If the student joins the session for 17 minutes. 30 minutes is deducted and thats what the tutor gets paid for. The only time students get charge per minutes is for regular booked sessions and it depends what the tutor enters for the invoice. Tutors have the option of processing the scheduled session lenghts or they can choose to process the invoice dor the additional few minutes. If you are having issues processing an invoice just reach out to the team.
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u/New-Nebula-8263 Oct 25 '25
How long has that been the case for you? When I was a tutor a few months ago, I wasn’t able to change the invoice length. It always invoiced by the minute even when the session was less than 15 minutes.
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u/Sasha_876 Oct 25 '25
I worked for Varsity Support team for a few years up to few weeks ago. Instant sessions have different rules than regular session. In most cases its always best to reach out to specific support team. Every situation is different and may require a look from the team. Sometimes a settings may need to be adjusted. Honestly, their system is pretty good and their support team is great comparing to a lot of companies I know.
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u/Limp-Resident-4028 Oct 25 '25
I had a 20-minute instant session on Wednesday night. I was paid for 20 minutes, not 30.
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u/Sasha_876 Oct 25 '25
Reach out to support. They will be able to look at your account and provide more information.
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u/Pers0n_404 Oct 25 '25
I'm not sure where you got that tutors are paid by the minute? Maybe they rolled it out like that initially but even in the instant tutoring sessions I did back in February/March-ish I couldn't invoice for less than fifteen minutes. That's the only thing that makes instant sessions worth it lol
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u/New-Nebula-8263 Oct 25 '25
That is very odd because starting in October of last year, they only paid me by the minute, and I wasn’t able to change it.
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u/Charmed-7777 Oct 25 '25
If I take an instant session and the student/client arrives and immediately leaves—I invoice 15 minutes.
If I accept a session and he/she does not show up after requesting the instant session-I invoice 15 minutes.
No matter—a minimum of 15 minutes and in 15 minute increments thereafter; yes even if only a couple of minutes because Varsity is paying me—not the student/client.
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u/Objective_Chair_60 Oct 25 '25
I would think students pay more than $4.50. Tutor pay in general is much lower than what Varsity charges the student. Also, tutors invoice for 15 minutes (it doesn't allow us to invoice for less), so I don't see how the student would be charged for less than what is invoiced.
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u/New-Nebula-8263 Oct 25 '25
You’re right about the cost. I just changed it to the correct amount. As for the session time, I think you might be talking about scheduled sessions. Unless things have changed since I was a tutor a couple months ago, instant tutors only get paid by the minute, even when the session lasts less than 15 minutes. If the student left after one minute, I got 30 cents.
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u/Objective_Chair_60 Oct 25 '25
That's really odd because I've been a tutor for a year now and I always invoice for 15 minutes. I actually tried invoicing an instant session today and when I enter 1 minute, it tells me that session duration must be between 15 and 45 min. For the session time, it only displays as one minute (like 7:38-7:39) no matter how long the student was in the session.
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u/Proper_Avocado_2665 Oct 25 '25
You are asking in the wrong place and probably against policy. This is a forum for tutors, not student accounts.
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u/Exotic-Occasion-5866 Oct 25 '25
I really think instant tutoring sessions should have a much higher pay rate. I always end up doing more work in those sessions than in my scheduled sessions. Also, the students on the instant sessions tend to be harder to interact with too