This may come as a surprise to my wife but I recognize that I don't know everything. I know it's shocking news to her and all of you. LOL I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes rely on others for information or to learn a skill. I've invested in a lot of courses and training so I can be proficient in my business. So I'm a big proponent in investing in yourself whenever it helps you grow. This also includes tutoring for students. Fortunately we live in a connected world so many students go online looking for tutors. And that's a perfect opportunity for you to make money and our topic today in my InstaEdu Review.
What Is InstaEDU?
InstaEDU is a company that matches students who need help with qualified tutors in an online classroom setting. InstaEdu is located in San Francisco, CA., founded 2011 by Stanford graduates Alison & Dan Johnson (siblings) and Joey Shurtleff.
In June of 2014, Chegg Inc. purchased InstaEDU, but its leadership, staff and services remained unchanged.
Important: Chegg Inc. specializes in Online Textbook Rentals (physical and digital formats) and is NOT actively involved in the InstaEDU operation, and therefore not subject of this review!
How Does InstaEDU Tutoring Work?
Students visit InstaEDU.com and browse by subject to find available tutors. They are allowed to read the tutor profiles to schedule online lessons with the tutor of their choice.
The InstaEDU lesson space uses video chat, text chat, a white board, a document editor, code editor, screen sharing and a file uploader to allow students and tutors to work together. The site is mobile friendly and supports messaging, scheduling and written lessons.
The Main Subjects are:
- Math: Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, Statistics, Trigonometry
- Science: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, Psychology
- Computer Programming: Java, Python, C & C++, Ruby, HTML
- Business: Economics, Macro-economics, Micro-economics, Econometrics, Accounting
- Language: Spanish, French, Mandarin, Latin, ESL (and many more)
- Humanities: Writing, Reading, Linguistics, English, History
Find a complete list of all tutoring subjects here!
Pricing:
The base price for a 60 minutes tutoring session is $30 Students can subscribe to either a weekly or monthly plan. There are no hidden fees or long- term commitments. Subscriptions may be cancelled at any time.
How You Become An Online Tutor With InstaEDU
There are only 2 requirements:
- InstaEDU requires all tutors to have previous tutoring or teaching experience, and to be enrolled in or have graduated from a 4 years university.
- You are required to download their software and your computer must be equipped with a webcam and microphone
InstaEDU welcomes tutors from all countries. To start your application, you MUST sign in via their Facebook page. You don't have to worry – they won't post anything without your explicit permission. They only use this method to verify your identity and credentials.
Unlike similar companies, they don't put you through the wringer of rigorous tests and mock tutoring sessions. Your credentials in the subjects you choose are enough to get accepted. The review and acceptance process takes usual 7 to 10 days and you will be notified via email. Once you are accepted, you are ready to tutor online.
How Much And How You Get Paid
You are paid $20/hour for time spent in a lesson with students, or time spent writing a student's written lesson explanation. The $20/hour rate is applied to the exact number of minutes accumulated during a given week. As a courtesy to tutors, the minimum lesson length is 5 minutes (i.e. if you connect with a student and assist them in 2 minutes, you'll still be paid for 5 minutes).
You are paid every Friday, for all lessons completed since the previous payment. Lessons completed the Thursday directly before payments are not included in the cutoff, and will be reimbursed the following week.All payments are made via PayPal.
What Are The InstaEDU Complaints
When you google for InstaEDU feedback, you will find a whole bunch of bad write-ups related to the Chegg Inc. text book rental division. Keep in mind that these have absolutely nothing to do with InstaEDU.
As we all know, there are always some complaints about a company, even the best one, and should be taken with the famous grain of salt. InstaEDU is no exception. My research team found only a few bad reports from disgruntled students complaining that they were charged for a tutoring lesson and ‘didn't learn a thing'. I tend to believe that these complaints are not warranted, rather an effort to avoid payment.
However, there are complaints from tutors that need to be taken seriously and are reason for concern:
Not Enough Work!
Many tutors complain about too much down time, even during peak school season. Some say that they only get 1 1/2 to 2 hours per day, although they show a log-in time of 5 or 6 hours. I believe this has to do with the subject or subjects they are profiled for. It seems that there are more than the average number of tutors in certain subjects, like English or Math, and, understandably so, there are not enough students seeking tutoring to give all the tutors more hours.
On the other hand, the screenshot below is from a ‘happy tutor' who is not complaining about low work hours, rather than some other issues which are related to this subject.
InstaEDU Deactivates Account Without Explanation!
This is serious my friends. There are many reports that tutoring accounts are deactivated without warning because a student gives the tutor a ‘thumb down'. Obviously, InstaEDU is not even willing to discuss the matter with the tutor, and relies solely on the student's report. Those that had their accounts terminated feel that the company doesn't give a damn about the tutors and treats them unfairly.
In all honesty, I believe this must be a disease that runs rampant in the online tutoring industry. Just recently, I reviewed Tutor.com and found a bunch of the same complaints. Here is what a InstaEDU tutor in Atlanta had to say.
And here is a similar complaint from a tutor who had booked over 350 tutor sessions over 1 1/2 years, and had his account terminated because of one single negative report.
Is InstaEDU Legitimate or a Scam?
InstaEdu seems to be legit despite some of the complaints listed above. The process of becoming a tutor seems much easier than with other similar companies. The pay of $20 per hour is exceptional good, and the overall rating is absolutely positive. InstaEDU provides a great opportunity IF you can avoid the pitfalls of getting negative ratings from your students.
So I would definitely consider this company as one source of income. But if you know me well, you know I'm a big proponent of having multiple streams of income because unless you're the boss these companies can shut you down at a moment's notice. So you want to have other streams of income flowing in as I do. With that in mind, I would encourage you to look into My Top Free Work At Home Recommendation and for you to check out My Work At Home Courses. Both of these options have provided me various ways to make money from the comfort of my home over time. They can help you as well as long as you're patient and willing to put in the work. So definitely check them out as well.
Well enough yapping from me. What do you guys think of InstaEdu? Is this a company you would try or had experience with? Let me know by posting a comment down below.
Until next time,
Eddy with a y
Hello Eddy, great article. Let me tell you about tutors. There are good ones and bad ones. My daughters needed tutoring in math. At that time, I worked my behind off for 14 hrs a day in my regular job and didn’t really have the time to help them out. Left my house @ 5 in the morning, got home at 7. The guy tutoring was an arrogant ass and actually worthless. The grades did not get better, so I fired him. Did it myself by making up ‘spreadsheets for the day’ and quizzed him when I got home. Guess what? They finally got it. They didn’t like it much back then, but today they thank me for it. Of course, back then there was no Internet and finding a good tutor was not that easy. The web makes it easy to match a student with the right tutor, and everybody is happy (most of the time)
Hey John,
Good to hear from you buddy. I agree that like all people there are good and bad tutors. Sounds like your daughters experienced the bad kind and you made some adjustments to rectify that. Fortunately like you said the web exists now so its much easier to find a tutor and hopefully this company gives my readers an option to make money as one. Thanks for chiming in as usual.