Policies
SCHEDULING
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Session Requests
Sessions are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis according to tutor availability. Students are encouraged to book a weekly time slot to ensure regular availability. If a student wishes to add or reschedule sessions, they are encouraged to do so with as much advance notice as possible to ensure tutor availability.
Occasionally, tutors may need to cancel or reschedule a recurring session in a weekly time slot. In this case, they will provide as much advance notice as possible.
Weekly sessions are automatically booked for every single week during the students’ school year. If a family wishes to cancel a session for a school holiday (i.e. a national holiday, spring break, etc), they must do so in the usual way (via TutorBird, a text with the tutor, etc). Sessions that fall on a national or school holiday still fall under the usual cancellation policy and must be canceled in advance to avoid a fee.
Cancellation Policy
The standard Catapult Tutoring cancellation policy is 8 hours. If a student/parent cancels or reschedules a scheduled session with more than 8 hours’ notice, the parent will not be charged. If the student/parent cancels less than 8 hours before the scheduled session or does not show up to a scheduled session, the parent will be charged for the total scheduled time. This same policy applies for shortened sessions. For example, if a student has a 1-hour session booked and the student/parent shortens this to a 0.5-hour session during the session or with less than 8 hours’ notice, the parent will be invoiced and charged for the full hour.
If a student/parent repeatedly and consistently cancels within 8 to 24 hours of their session, Catapult Tutoring reserves the right to increase this cancellation policy to 24 hours and/or cancel the student’s weekly spot. The client will be notified if these changes occur.
The parent is responsible for conveying this cancellation policy to their student. Student-initiated cancellations and reschedule requests are included in the above policies.
Late Arrival
If a student is running late, they should contact their tutor via text or phone call. Their tutor will wait 15 minutes for the student. If the student arrives late, they will be able to use the rest of the scheduled time; however, the end time and total amount billed remains the same. If the family wishes to extend the end time, the parent agrees to pay for the additional elapsed time. If the tutor has not heard from a late student 15 minutes after the session was scheduled to begin, the session will be canceled and the parent will be charged for the total time scheduled.
To avoid technology-related difficulties for Zoom sessions, please test set-up before session start time. Technological issues must be reported by 5 minutes prior to the start of the session in order to possibly qualify for a waived late/cancellation fee.
FINANCIAL
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Payment
Catapult Tutoring will send a cumulative invoice via email on the first of the month (at the latest) for the prior month's sessions. There are four payment options: Zelle (free), Venmo (2% surcharge), credit card (2.9% surcharge), and ACH bank transfer ($3 surcharge). Clients are encouraged to use Zelle to avoid the surcharge; if Zelle is not an option for the client’s bank account and they would like to avoid the surcharge, they may contact Catapult Tutoring to discuss other options.
Payment is due within 3 days of invoice or Venmo request date. If a payment is overdue by a month or more, Catapult Tutoring reserves the right to cancel all future weekly sessions until outstanding balance is paid.
Rate
Catapult Tutoring will inform the client of the tutor’s hourly rate for each student before the first session begins. Hourly rate will be calculated based on several factors, including tutor, student age, and course level. Billing is rounded up to the nearest 10 minutes. For example, a session of 1 hour and 25 minutes will be billed as 1.5 hours. If the student wishes to continue beyond the agreed-upon amount of time in a session, the tutor will extend the session at their discretion (unless the parent has expressed a desire to limit every session to the agreed-upon length on the intake form), and the family will be billed accordingly. Depending on a student’s age and specific needs, the tutor may choose to include a break of up to five minutes during the session in order to maximize productivity; this break is included in the session time.
If the student advances to a higher course level in school and the parent wishes to continue with their student’s sessions, the hourly rate may increase. The parent will be informed of this change before the first session and may opt to discontinue sessions if desired.
If a student or parent requests help via text or email outside of session hours, the tutor reserves the right to charge. Often for quick help, the tutor will do this free of charge – but if the student has a lengthier question that involves a detailed explanation or requests extra practice problems, the tutor may charge up to their usual hourly rate for this external time at their discretion.The fee will be prorated per the tutor’s actual time spent for their work on the extra help.
Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of a specific grade in any course as a result of tutoring. There is almost always a significant and quick progression in understanding and resulting grade, but many factors, including student participation, study habits, and assignment completion rates, affect a student’s grade in their course. No refunds will be given if the desired grade is not achieved. All sessions are nonrefundable.
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PARENT/GUARDIAN RESPONSIBILITIES
The parent is responsible for conveying this cancellation policy to their student. Student-initiated cancellations and reschedule requests are included in the above policies.
The parent is responsible for initiating contact with Jacqui and/or the tutor. If the parent selects for all communication regarding scheduling to be done directly with the student, the parent agrees to abide by all cancellation/rescheduling policies in the event that the student cancels a session without informing them. The parent is responsible for encouraging the student to be prepared, punctual, focused, and respectful during each session. Each student should come to the session with paper or a notebook, a pencil, a calculator if required, and headphones or a quiet space.
​For Zoom sessions, tutors will often store notes from the session in the student's portal so that the student may access them throughout the school year. Any notes given to a student by a tutor may NOT directly be shared with friends or outside sources. The parent is responsible for making sure that the student uses the tutoring resource responsibly and does not use these notes to cheat, either on their own or with another student’s work.
Screen or audio recording of any type is not permitted, unless cleared by the tutor ahead of time.