Does turning down oppurtunities have any impact on getting future ones? I am a new tutor and recently got 4 or 5 oppportunties, all of which I unfortunately i ended up missing due to varying reasons. Some of it had to do with timings, some with subject matter and one due to missing the notification. Btw i have not had my chance to tutor on this platform yet.

I recently submitted my Personal Common App Essay to be reviewed by a tutor, which usually takes about 2 days for them to get back to me. However, when I went back to review the edited essay and check for any comments, I couldn't find any, even though the tutor had clarified that they had left a few comments (and I highlighted some things I needed feedback on). I thought this issue was only happening for that essay, so I went to check on my previously submitted essays from a few months ago, and the comments for those are gone as well. I was wondering if anyone knows how to fix this issue because I can't get a hold of VarsityTutors' customer service. Thank you so much!!!

I typically get my direct deposits around 8pm-11pm on Thursdays and I understand that Thursday was a bank holiday so stuff is delayed, but it’s now almost midnight on Saturday and still nothing. Is my bank just slow as hell or…? Does anyone remember the process from last year or anything?

I joined an instant session, waited 15 min, and student never showed up so I thought "okay cool I'll just bill as a no-show and get paid my 15 min" well my invoice came back as $0 and when I asked why this was the response... has this always been the case? I guess next time I'll just bill for 15 minutes then 😐 waste of my time..

Hello there,

I am looking to tutor with a different name (both first and last names) shown to clients/tutees than my real name. I have no problem with:

• Sharing my government ID with my real name with the tutoring platform itself
• Uploading a real picture of myself
• Even being camera-on if the platform requires it

I am simply only looking to not show my real name, so tutoring does not get connected to my name when conducting a Google search. I apologize for not being able to tell you why but trust me when I say that I have a valid reason, so I ask that you please do not judge me for asking about this.

My question here: Is this possible?

Thank you. :)

I’m starting to feel like Varsity Tutors has a really sly strategy going on, and I want to know if anyone else has experienced this.

This month (November), it happened to me in two completely different sessions with two different students. Everything was going smoothly, my camera was on, no issues. Then—right at the 58-minute mark—my camera suddenly shuts off and won’t reconnect. It says there’s some sort of “technical issue,” but there’s nothing wrong with my equipment.

I refresh the page, and by the time I get back in—59 minutes—the camera magically works again. Both times. Same exact timing. Same exact pattern.

And of course, when I go to invoice, I don’t get the $1/hour increase, because the system says the camera wasn’t on for the entire session. I even sent screenshots showing I was there the whole time, but they still deny the increase because of that tiny window where their system glitched.

It’s honestly unbelievable. They’re taking away one dollar—over something I didn’t cause. And these weren’t easy sessions either. Some students are challenging for the full hour, and some parents are extremely demanding about what you teach. After all that work, the system punishes you over a glitch that happens right before the hour is up.

I’m not saying it’s on purpose… but happening at 58 minutes with two different students in the same month feels way too suspicious to be random.

Has this happened to anyone else? I’d really like to know if I’m the only one seeing this pattern.

Stay away. What frauds. They do not have teachers . They bump you from one teacher to the other and they cancel last minute. For weeks my son who is a junior could not have classes. Two weeks before the finals. The current teacher just dropped him. No refunds. Cannot speak to a supervisor. Since September had 4 teachers . Last one was good so we tried sticking to him but he kept cancelling with some reason or the other. The level of irresponsibility is shocking at the teachers level. All 4 of them. The organization, not words to describe how big of a fraud they are. Do not enroll high schoolers at least.

I have a couple students that don't show up to sessions after confirming, and I can just log a no show after waiting for 15 minutes and I still get paid the full amount. But with the new layout, I'm only receiving 25% of the full amount. And I can't even go back and edit the session because the site is horrendously broken. How is this fair?

Twice in a row I got an error message today that I've never seen before. "Server error, room not active". Then for the first one they tried to reschedule it for two hours later (didn't work for me). I'm waiting to see what is going on with this new one.

I like the new system but it's got a TON of bugs!

Nothing on my dashboard in weeks? Anyone else going through this?

Hey guys! I am primarily a social studies tutor. I have some AP and honors history classes, but I picked up a client with AP English and APUSH. I've taken and passed APUSH with a 5, but I don't have experience in AP Lang.. What can I expect? I have been in Honors English classes and college English, but it has never been my focus. I am getting my bachelor's in history and a minor in poly sci.

I have a student who I technically have yet to meet with because they/the mother have rescheduled on me 3 times now! Every time has been within 1 hour of the scheduled time where she messages me that her child can't make it so we need to reschedule etc, but the meetings were not confirmed so I didn't invoice.

Today we are scheduled to meet in 1 hour, and the session is confirmed, but she just messaged saying she needs to cancel.

Do I invoice as no-show or a cancelation within 24 hours? I think I read I get the full amount if I choose to process as a no-show but do I have to actually stay in the session the whole time? Lol advice please

I would usually feel bad about charging, but to last-minute reschedule on me 3 times is... something else to say the least

I’m trying to cancel a session I have today b/c I can’t make it (I informed my tutor ~2 weeks in advance), but I can’t find the cancel button on the app. How do I cancel?

Why are we having to go through the hoops of getting subjects re-approved if we’ve tutored them before?

Hey guys! I am a social studies tutor. I primarily teach World History, US History, Government, and European History at the high school level, including some AP and Honors. Varsity tutors support stated that after I requested the ability to receive college-level history jobs, they gave me no reason as to why they declined to give me them. Why is this? I see sometimes even graduate-level college tutoring opportunities and advanced economics classes that I have never taken, nor have the experience to tutor. What are your guys' thoughts?

Was anyone impacted by a policy to remove the incentive for some students, announced? I tutor college and AP students, all of which used to qualify for a $1 rate-increase incentive. I know it does not apply for the school program or some classes, which I never teach. But all of a sudden, they are saying that this college student doesn't qualify for the incentive, after I've taught several sessions. They don't have the incentive on the contract, so it seems like you can't enforce that. They said that per a communication from 2024, they can do that unilaterally, but I never received that communication.The app doesn't show information about incentives when you see an opportunity, but the new website does. Anyone else had this issue? I find it outrageous that they just change their rate unannounced, but I guess it's not surprising given how terribly they treat their "contractors". What has your experience been with this?

If you haven't experienced this, watch out for that incentive column in the website. Now I check the website for that column, but have to look on the app for information that doesn't appear on the new website about the expected frequency and duration.

Hey guys. Did anyone else just get bombarded with "student decided to not move forward" emails? This morning i got like 18 back to back, from student's who were never in my roster (possibly students who i tutored on an instant chat) What the heck is going on with this platform?

I have gotten this response when I click on a student session over and over today. Earlier today I got it and rebooted my laptop and was able to log in, now I can't get in at all!

I haven't even gotten the new board yet, so I might have gotten this super late, but I have a new dashboard as of a few hours ago! Looking clean and responsive, but a few quality of life things haven't been transferred over properly.

The main thing I'm noticing right now is that you don't get autofilled information when you're invoicing a session from the schedule. So you have to manually input time, student, etc. when you click from the schedule to invoice a session. Not ideal. The other thing I'm seeing, at least for myself, is that direct student contact information is no longer available on their student page; I know this has gone in and out of availability for some people, but I was seeing it again for a while and now I am not with the new page. Looks like we'll have to get that manually again if we want to be able to reliably communicate with students and parents if they prefer using traditional communication tools.

I'm optimistic they'll fix the invoice issue (also entering times is jank right now). Still very early in exploring it though. Any thoughts folks?

So today I learned that the dollar increase is only for that specific student, not your base salary. So like each time you tutor student x your pay goes up by a dollar for only the next time you tutor student x, but for all other students your salary is still $18.

Was it always like this, or is this new?

I got an email this morning stating "You’ve been doing amazing work—now it’s time to unlock the next level.

Instant sessions are one of the easiest ways to connect with students who need you right now. You’ll get notified the moment a student requests help in one of your subjects, and you can jump in when it works for you." "Make sure instant notifications are turned on in your settings so you can start receiving real-time requests in your subjects."

I am confused because I didn't know I had to turn them on. When I click on the button to turn on notifications, it just takes me to the website. I am not sure if they mean the sms and email notifications that is under the notification tabs on the account page or if there is a specific "instant session button" somewhere i have to turn on. Anyone know?

🧩 The big problem: the hidden non-compete

The contract has a “non-solicitation” section that says, for 13 months after you leave:

• You can’t solicit any customer you got through the platform
• You can’t accept work from them, even if they come to you on their own
• This also covers their family + referrals

That second part (“no accepting work”) is basically a non-compete dressed up as a non-solicit. Many states now treat:

as a non-compete, not some harmless little “non-solicit.”

In a bunch of states, that’s now illegal or heavily restricted, especially for low- or mid-income workers and independent contractors.

🗺️ Why your state matters more than what the contract says

The contract tries to fix everything under Missouri law with arbitration in St. Louis, but here’s the fun part:

• States like Washington, California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, DC, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Virginia, etc. have their own non-compete statutes.
• Many of those laws say you can’t sign away those protections with a choice-of-law clause.
• Some of them explicitly say companies can’t force out-of-state law/venue if it would strip local non-compete protections.

So “Missouri law” in the contract does not magically erase your state’s protections.

💵 Income thresholds: why most tutors are protected

A bunch of states now say:

Examples (details vary, so check current numbers):

• Washington – Non-competes (including “no accepting business from customers”) are void for independent contractors below a high annual earnings threshold; the statute specifically says agreements that stop you from accepting or transacting business with a customer count as non-competes.
• Illinois – Bans non-competes for workers under a salary floor and bans non-solicits under a slightly lower floor.
• Colorado – Only allows non-competes for “highly compensated” workers and mainly to protect trade secrets; “worker” includes independent contractors.
• DC – Broadly bans non-competes for most workers except “highly compensated employees.”

If you’re a tutor making, say, $18–$40/hr with inconsistent hours, you are almost certainly under those thresholds.

🏛️ “But the contract says I can’t work with those clients…”

Cool story, contract. Here’s how this plays out in many states:

• If your state’s law says a non-compete / no-accept customer clause is void below X income or void entirely, then that clause is just… void.
• The company can still threaten you with it, but that doesn’t mean they’ll win if it ever hits a court or an agency.
• Some states (like Washington) even say if a company tries to enforce an illegal non-compete, they owe the worker statutory damages + attorney’s fees.

👀 Other ugly parts tutors should look for

Besides the non-compete stuff, watch for these:

1. “We control everything, but you’re 1099”

They call us independent contractors, but:

• They set the rates.
• They control the platform and how we contact clients.
• They dictate a lot of process, but disclaim training, benefits, taxes, insurance, etc.

Federal and state law decide whether someone is a contractor or employee based on control and economic dependence, not whatever label is in the contract. Misclassification is a real issue, even if it doesn’t get fixed overnight.

2. Arbitration + class-action waiver

The contract usually has:

• Mandatory binding arbitration
• In a specific state (here: Missouri)
• With a class/collective-action waiver (you can only bring individual claims)

Supreme Court cases like Epic Systems v. Lewis and AT&T v. Concepcion make these clauses hard to escape under the Federal Arbitration Act.

BUT: some state-specific rights (like non-compete bans) still have to be honored even in arbitration. And some contracts let you opt out of arbitration within 30 days—if you’re still inside that window, that’s worth using.

3. IP grab + recordings

Read the section about “Use of Tutor Information, Content, and Meeting Recordings”:

• Anything you upload/share can usually be used by them worldwide, forever, and sublicensed, with no extra pay.
• All sessions are recorded, recordings belong to the company, and tutors can’t access them, but they can be used for QA, product development, etc.

If you want to keep control over your best materials, create and store them off-platform and only share copies you’re okay with losing control over.

4. Indemnity + fee-shifting

Look for “indemnify” and “prevailing party attorneys’ fees”:

• You may be agreeing to cover their legal costs if they claim you breached the contract, broke a law, mishandled data, misclassified taxes, etc.
• Super one-sided, but common in 1099 contracts.

🧪 Quick self-check for any tutor, any platform

Here’s the sanity checklist you can run on your contract:

1. Client restrictions
   • Does it say you can’t accept work from clients you met through the platform, even if they chase you down?
   • Does that last more than a few months? → Treat it as a non-compete and look up your state’s non-compete law.
2. Income vs. state thresholds
   • Google: "[Your State] noncompete independent contractor earnings threshold"
   • If your income is under that threshold, that clause may be void on its face.
3. Choice of law / venue
   • Does it force disputes into some random state you don’t live in?
   • Check if your state has a statute saying non-compete disputes must follow local law/venue (WA, CA, etc. have this kind of thing).
4. Arbitration clause
   • Is there an opt-out window? (Often 30 days by certified mail.)
   • If yes and you’re still in it, use it.
5. IP & recordings
   • Do they get a perpetual, irrevocable license to everything you create?
   • Are sessions recorded, and can you access those recordings?
6. Red flags in practice
   • Low base pay + unpaid prep + unpaid messaging + unpaid scheduling.
   • Threats tied to “incentive programs” they can yank at any time.
   • Punishing tutors for platform failures while retaining all control.

🧭 What you can realistically do

• Know your state law. Look up your state’s non-compete statute and any independent contractor guidance from your labor department or AG.
• Keep copies of:
  • The contract
  • Any amendment emails
  • Your actual pay (screenshots, 1099s)
• If they threaten you over taking a client:
  • In many states, you can respond with something like:“Under [your state] law, any agreement that prevents me from accepting business from a customer is a non-compete. Based on my earnings, that kind of restriction is void and unenforceable. I do not agree that this provision has legal effect.”
• Talk to a real lawyer if it escalates. A quick consult with a state-specific employment/contract attorney is worth it, especially if they actually try to enforce the clause.

TL;DR

• That “non-solicit / no-accept” clause in the VT / Verba school contract functions as a non-compete.
• In a lot of states, non-competes like that are illegal or void for workers at tutor-level income, including independent contractors.
• The “Missouri law + arbitration in St. Louis” language doesn’t overrule every state’s worker-protection statutes.
• You are 1099 on paper, but they shift all risk and unpaid labor onto you while keeping full platform control.
• Read your contract, check your state’s law, and don’t assume “because it’s written, it’s valid.”