Are partner-sponsored students a good fit for your business?

This article originally appeared on the Wyzant Tutor Blog on 8/20/2019, written by Mackenzie Siren. 

Over the past year, my team has been building our official Wyzant for Higher Ed partnership program and product. We are excited to discuss both today, because they give colleges and universities a new tool to drive student success – something we believe is needed now more than ever.

I want to thank all of the tutors who are already working with partner-sponsored students. Based on their feedback, here are answers to commonly asked questions about this new program.

What is Wyzant for Higher Ed?

Higher ed institutions are supplementing their on-campus tutoring services with the Wyzant marketplace. Most institutions are paying for tutoring on behalf of their students, based on specific criteria. We refer to these students as “partner-sponsored students.”

Our research shows that many partner-sponsored students are new to tutoring, and had not considered using it before being introduced to Wyzant by their institution. This is exciting, because these partnerships help us reach a new population of students.

How does Wyzant for Higher Ed work?

Higher ed institutions may offer Wyzant tutoring to their general student population, but many have chosen to use Wyzant as a form of targeted intervention for their most at-risk students. These students have knowledge gaps and need to catch up quickly to be successful. Wyzant is recommended by an advisor or faculty member in these situations. These advocates will often post a tutoring job on the student’s behalf to get the ball rolling. All students and institutions are looking for online tutoring.

Each institution sets its own parameters, including eligible students, eligible courses, hourly and total budgets. The institution covers the cost of tutoring within these parameters. Please note that students may not know what these parameters are.

How are hourly rate limits set?

Partner-sponsored job posts include the maximum hourly rate that the institution is willing to pay. The institution sets the subject-specific hourly rate limit based on an analysis of available tutors and experience-levels in each subject area. Students are typically unaware of this limit and are not permitted to negotiate a different rate.

The Wyzant marketplace’s flexible pricing model allows each institution to pay market rate for their specific needs. General subjects, like writing or biology, will likely have a lower hourly rate budget than advanced subjects, like graduate-level statistics or pharmacology.

How does payment work for partner-sponsored students?

Wyzant works directly with institutions to handle payment, and all partner-sponsored students will automatically have billing on file when their accounts are created. These students will be confused if you ask about billing and payment as it’s already taken care of for them!

Payment to tutors works exactly the same: you will earn 75% of your hourly rate (Partner-sponsored students are also charged the service fee).

How do I spot a partner-sponsored student?

Look for the following special designators in job posts to identify partner-sponsored students:

How do students select a tutor?

While an advocate from the student’s institution may submit a tutoring request on their behalf, the student ultimately decides which tutor to work with. The institution or advocate does not need to approve the tutor. All institutional partners are familiar with Wyzant’s tutor application and approval process and are often impressed with the caliber of tutors on the platform.

The Good Fit Guarantee still applies to partner-sponsored students, so a poor experience may lead a student to contact other tutors.

Excited about working with partner-sponsored students? (We are too!) Here are some helpful things to keep in mind:

• In addition to the student, the institution and advocate will have access to the lesson summaries you write, as well as other session-specific information like date, duration, and total cost. Your messages and lessons recordings remain private between you and the student.

• We have a zero tolerance academic honesty policy. If a student’s request breaks our policy, please report the student to Customer Support (see this article for some helpful tips on how to spot these students).

• Please be respectful of our partner institutions and their staff and faculty. It is important to remember that we are all working together to help students succeed.

• As academic terms and courses begin and end, the students who receive access to Wyzant for Higher Ed through their institution will vary. Students you have previously worked with may no longer be accessible from your Student Connections page if they are no longer eligible for partner-sponsored tutoring.

Finally, as you can imagine, the needs of each institution and its users are unique, and we’re actively improving the product experience for partner-sponsored students and tutors. We’ll announce product improvements as they’re released on the blog.

If you still have questions, visit the Help Center for more information.