Policies

Absence and Tardiness policy
An absence is regarded as a cancellation on less than an hour’s notice.

If you are late for a lesson, you will be charged for the full period of time. I will make reasonable efforts to accommodate late arrivals by providing the full duration of the scheduled lesson. However, if I have to leave at our scheduled time, the full charge will still apply.

If I am late, I will either stay late to make up for it, or pro-rate the charge if you or I am not able to stay late.

Booking appointments
All lessons must be scheduled on this website’s calendar, which will be used as the basis of record keeping and booking priority (ie first booked, first served).  Clients are ultimately responsible for removing cancelled lessons from the calendar so they don’t get billed for them.  The calendar only displays lessons 24+ hours in the future.  To schedule something on shorter notice, call 707-685-9281, but I can not guarantee availability.  A short-notice lesson is billed at the base rate unless you have already made arrangements for the reward rate.

Canceling and rescheduling
One-on-one lessons:  Each student may claim one free “grace” late cancellation / rescheduling per semester.  After that, the regular cancellation fee is 50% of the lesson’s value for cancellation with less than 24 hours’ notice, or 100% for cancellation with less than one hour’s notice.  Rescheduling fees are half of the cancellation fees.   Excessive cancellations may result in your removal from the calendar.

Group class:  Your balance is refundable up to Week 3, unless exactly 2, 3, or 10 students are enrolled in your class.  (Rationale for low enrollment: You are relying on each other to maintain a certain number of weeks. Rationale for high enrollment: I may have had to turn away other students because class was full.) Whenever you are absent, I will send you links to make-up lecture videos.  Unfortunately, I can not make up homework questions or essay feedback.  You may choose to book an additional paid lesson for those purposes. No refunds are issued after Week 4.

Consultations

Consultations are billed at the same rate as lessons. This includes all phone calls, emails, and in-office visits. If you are pre-paid, I grant you a free 1/4 hr of consultation each week.

Credit balance

A credit on your account will be held until you ask for a reimbursement of funds, or after a year of inactivity, whichever comes first.

Group Lessons
Students are encouraged to form study groups to split tutoring fees. However, I will not book students together into a group lesson without the consent of every student in that group.  See Rates page for details about group discounts.

Guarantees and Disclaimers
I promise to offer each student the full benefit of my experience, talent, resources, and professional judgment as a reputable tutor. I believe that I can help almost every student achieve the highest level possible within their abilities, time constraints, and commitment levels.

I offer no guarantees about any particular grades or test scores. Lessons are intended to help students do “as well as they possibly can,” not “as well as anyone could.”

I am not trained or certified to counsel students with learning disabilities. Therefore, I also offer no guarantees about a minor child’s attention span, interest level, or effort, either in lessons or between lessons.

It’s my job to help with homework. It’s the parents’ job to enforce that it gets done!

House Calls

A house call within a 3-mile radius of the office is a 1.5 hour lesson, but it is scheduled and billed as two hours to allow driving time.  To book it, please schedule two consecutive hours on my calendar.  The actual lesson will be 1.5 hours within that two-hour window.

A house call 3 – 5 miles from the office is a two hour lesson, scheduled and billed as three hours.  To book it, please schedule three consecutive hours on my calendar.  The actual lesson will be two hours within that three-hour window.  Realistically, you will need to book this well in advance.

As a courtesy, please put your dogs in back 15 minutes before our lesson time.

Minors and Parents

I only tutor students at or above 9th grade and age 14.  

For a student under the age of 18, I regard the student’s parent(s) as the student’s agent in all matters of scheduling and payments, unless the parent expressly delegates responsibility to the student.  Parents of minors are permitted to sit in on lessons at any time, though privacy is preferred.

For a college student over the age of 18, the student is the only point of contact for scheduling lessons.  Parents may contact me about payments.

When a 12th grader turns 18, I normally continue to communicate with the parent for sake of continuity.  The student is welcome to communicate directly with me as well.  Any scheduling disagreements between parent and student will be resolved in the student’s favor.

Minors (under age 21) are asked to please put phones away (in a bag or on another table) and on silent during lesson time.  For lessons longer than an hour, we take hourly breaks and you may check your phone at that time.

Post-paid lessons

As a rule, all lessons must be pre-paid or pre-authorized with credit card. I allow a $200 exception if you run late on payments. Post-paid lessons are billed at the base rate. If your balance due reaches $200 because of unpaid lessons and / or cancellation fees, your service will be suspended until payment arrangements are made. Sorry!

Pre-paid or pre-authorized lessons

As a rule, all lessons must be pre-paid or pre-authorized with credit card. Pre-paid or -authorized lessons are billed at the reward rate.

To pre-authorize charges, leave your credit card information on file with me. After a week or three hours of lessons (whichever comes first), I will email you an invoice or statement of charges showing your balance due, and then I will immediately process your credit card in that amount.

In the event that your credit card expires or is declined, I will notify you and give you a week to provide payment or a new card. If no such arrangements are made within a week, then your unpaid lessons will revert to post-paid and will be billed at the base rate. If your credit card is declined twice within a year, or thrice in any time span, you must pre-pay for all subsequent lessons.

Referrals

I encourage you to refer friends.  If you refer a student who meets with me at least twice, you will earn the value of their first lesson in cash or credit.  I offer $60 for a GRE class referral.  This policy is intended as a referral incentive and therefore applies only to those who knew about it!  In the event that one student refers another before either one studies with me, the referring student must actively claim the credit up front.