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Varsity Tutors Review: Services, Costs, Terms and Reviews
September 30, 2024

Varsity Tutors Review: Services, Costs, Terms and Reviews

Varsity Tutors is a well-known name in the online learning space. The company provides live virtual tutoring in over 3,000 subjects to learners of all ages in multiple formats including both one-on-one instruction and group experiences. Varsity Tutors leverages technology via its proprietary platform - Nerdy - that employs AI to deliver personalized, high-quality learning services. But is Varsity Tutors really worth it?

This Varsity Tutors review outlines the company services, tutor qualifications, pricing structure, software platform, and geographical availability. We highlight the main pros and cons of the platform, look at online reviews by existing customers, and offer top alternatives for users with various e-learning needs.

If you're looking to tutors that are state certified and have over 15 years of experience teaching in schools, check out iTutor.

Varsity Tutors Overview

Varsity Tutors is a tech-based platform for live online learning. The company focuses on virtual tutoring services available to students K-12 grade as well as to older learners. Varsity Tutors services are offered to both schools/districts and individual students/families.

Chuck Cohn founded Varsity Tutors in 2007, which makes it one of the earliest online tutoring platforms available on the market. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, MO but has nationwide coverage. Varsity Tutors was born out of the personal educational experience of the founder, who used private tutoring to grow from an F to an A+ student in honors geometry in high school. His experiences in high school and university showed him that tutoring is effective only if students have access to the right tutor for their particular situation. Thus, the platform has the mission to transform the way people learn with the help of technology to offer perfectly matched, personalized experiences to students.

Currently, Varsity Tutors offers more than 3,000 subjects including K-12 grade classes, professional courses, languages, and test prep. The company has delivered over 10 million hours of one-on-one instruction.

Varsity Tutors Services

A Varsity Tutors review shows that the platform provides a wide range of online tutoring and supplemental instruction in various subjects. E-learning services target both schools/school districts and individual students/families.

The main services of Varsity Tutors comprise:

  • 24/7 tutoring for schools and school districts
  • High-dosage tutoring for schools and districts
  • Special education services for schools
  • ACT and SAT tutoring programs for K-12 school districts
  • Academic tutoring for K-12 and older students
  • Test prep for students
  • Enrichment courses for students

Schools, districts, and individual learners can choose from over 3,000 courses covering the following areas:

  • K-5 subjects: English, Math, Phonics, Reading, Study Skills, and Writing
  • AP subjects: AP Biology, AP Calculus, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science, AP French, AP History, AP Human Geography, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Physics, AP Spanish, AP Statistics, AP US History, and AP World History
  • Business: Accounting, Business Calculus, Economics, Marketing, MBA, Microsoft Excel, and Supply Chain Management
  • Humanities: Essay Editing, History, Law, Literature, and Theology
  • Languages: Arabic, Bengali, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese Chinese, Sign Language, and Spanish
  • Support for stents with learning differences: ADD & ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Learning Difficulties, Sign Language, and Special Education
  • Math: Algebra, Calculus, College Math, Common Core Math, Elementary School Math, Geometry, High School Math, Middle School Math, Pre-Calculus, Statistics, and Trigonometry
  • Science: Anatomy, Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Physics, and Physiology
  • Tech and engineering: AutoCAD, C++, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, HTML & CSS, Industrial Engineering, Java, Materials Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Python, Ruby, SQL, and Thermodynamics
  • Test prep: K-9 Exams (CogAT, ISEE, MAP, SHSAT, and SSAT), High School Exams (AP, HSPT, IB, ISEE, and TACHS), College Entrance Exams (ACT, SAT, and PSAT), Graduate School Entrance Exams (DAT, DMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, and PCAT), and Certifications and Licenses (Bar, CPE, Finance, Medical, NCLEX, NMLS, and PMP)
  • Other subjects: Biostatistics, Coding, College Essays, Homeschool, Minecraft, Preschool, and others

Following is a description of the major services that Varsity Tutors provides to schools and individuals:

Varsity Tutors Services for Schools and Districts

Varsity Tutors offers a number of school and school district solutions that cover the needs of students K-12 grade. At the moment, the platform is partnering with 500+ schools and districts for the delivery of live virtual tutoring. The company is able to provide consistent high-impact tutoring via targeted individualized learning plans and flexible learning formats including both one-on-one and small-group tutoring.

24/7 Tutoring and Classes

K-12 school districts can access free-of-cost, 24/7, on-demand tutoring services.

Available modules include:

  • 24/7, on-demand chat tutoring
  • On-demand essay review
  • Live group classes covering all academic subjects and hundreds of enrichment courses
  • Academic classes with course-specific content
  • College prep program including SAT and ACT
  • Career readiness
  • Enrichment classes
  • Celebrity-led StarCourses including storm chasing, space travel, secrets of magic, dinosaur excavation, and others

High-Dosage Tutoring

Varsity Tutors offers high-dosage tutoring that aims to close learning gaps via an evidence-based approach and a technology-driven platform. The platform integrates with district curriculum and classroom tools to deliver targeted support aligned with the district’s educational goals.

Available options include:

  • District Assigned Tutoring
  • Teacher Assigned Tutoring
  • Parent Assigned Tutoring

ESSER Solutions

Varsity Tutors has the capacity to deliver ESSER-compliant high-dosage tutoring to help eliminate learning losses. This helps schools tackle disruptions in learning by focusing on academic recovery and safety.

These solutions incorporate:

  • High-dosage tutoring
  • Student absenteeism
  • After school learning

Special Education and Required Services

Varsity Tutors help schools and districts comply with IDEA/OCR to support students with disabilities. In specific, they deliver individualized instruction for students with IEPs and 504 plans that ensures consistent student-tutor engagement.

ACT and SAT Programs

Varsity Tutors offers ACT and SAT tutoring programs to K-12 school districts so that every student gets an opportunity to be college and career ready.

The comprehensive solutions for ACT and SAT prep include:

  • Live one-on-one and small group scheduled tutoring
  • Adaptive assessments and practice questions
  • Supplemental live instructor-led group classes
  • Supplemental self-paced classes
  • College essay and application workshops

Varsity Tutors Services for Individual Students

Varsity Tutors offers different types of memberships to individual students that provide them with access to academic, enrichment, language, and test prep tutoring.

Academic

Varsity Tutors has customizable learning solutions in various subjects for individuals of different ages.

Academic services include:

  • One-on-one tutoring in core and elective subjects
  • Supplemental live classes in small groups
  • 24/7 chat homework help and essay editing services
  • Assessments and practice problems in various subjects, difficulty levels, and formats

Enrichment

Varsity Tutors enrichment membership aims to stimulate lifelong learning and success. Courses focus on inspiring passion for learning, while making practice, repetition, and foundational subjects enjoyable.

Available enrichment modules include:

  • One-on-one tutoring in all most demanded subjects
  • Engaging live classes conducted in nurturing social and emotional learning environments
  • On-demand homework help and essay review
  • Tailored, grade-level practice problems and assessments

Languages

Varsity Tutors provides individual tutoring services to students of all levels in a number of different languages.

Language e-learning services include:

  • One-on-one language tutoring
  • Live online classes in small groups as a standalone track or to supplement one-on-one tutoring
  • 24/7 live chat language support

Test Prep

Varsity Tutors test prep memberships allow individual students from K-12 and beyond to successfully prepare for diverse exams and tests based on proven strategies and expert support.

Available options include:

  • One-on-one tutoring customized to meet individual student needs
  • Unlimited test prep classes designed to build and reinforce fundamentals and test-taking strategies
  • Test prep assessments and practice questions enabling students to track progress, identify areas for improvement, and expand material understanding

Varsity Tutors Staff

The tutors that Varsity Tutors offers works with not state-certified. Nevertheless, they have:

  • Validated academic expertise in their subject(s)
  • Previous tutoring experience
  • Proven efficiency in virtual teaching
  • Clear background
  • Checked results

The company applies a rigorous vetting process when hiring tutors to confirm their subject knowledge and effective online teaching skills. In addition, tutors undergo a background check to ensure student safety.

In the tutor matching process, Varsity Tutors enters the information about the student provided by themselves or their family, the district assessment results, and more than 100 additional attributes in a series of AI algorithms to find the best tutor for the unique learning needs of every student.

Varsity Tutors Costs

Varsity Tutors pricing is custom, and there is no information about fees on the company website. Interested schools and parents/families need to get in touch to get a quote. Meanwhile, costs are likely to depend on the type of user (school vs individual student), the subject, the grade, the number of hours required, and the tutoring frequency.

It’s important to note that tutoring for schools and districts is available for free through June 30, 2030.

Varsity Tutors Terms

Varsity Tutors services can be used by both schools and individual students or their parents/guardians. The platform does not impose any specific terms, conditions, or restrictions. Interested users need to contact the company to confirm suitability and be matched with the best-fitted tutor for their needs.

Varsity Tutors provides the following guarantees:

  • Personal Satisfaction Guarantee for college and school admission exam prep
  • Tutor Satisfaction Guarantee for all purchasers of tutoring hours via the platform
  • Pass Guarantee for professional certification exam prep

Certain eligibility requirements apply to all guarantees.

Varsity Tutors Software

Varsity Tutors uses a proprietary live online learning platform, Nerdy. Nerdy is a purpose-built Artificial Intelligence for Human Interaction (AI for HI) platform that aims to open new learning experiences with smart personalization to strengthen the connection between learners and experts (tutors).

In specific, Nerdy enables Varsity Tutors to provide personalized learning in over 3,000 subjects via a range of formats including one-on-one instruction, small group classes, large group classes, and self study. The software platform uses big data to help Varsity Tutors identify the experts who are capable of delivering top-quality learning experiences and driving high customer satisfaction in each particular case. This allows the company to offer live instruction at an unprecedented scale.

Varsity Tutors Reviews

There are thousands of online reviews of Varsity Tutors by different types of customers that show generally positive experiences.

Varsity Tutors reviews can be found on:

  • Trustpilot: 4.4/5 stars based on 10,089 reviews
  • ConsumerAffairs: 4.4/5 stars based on 1,036 reviews
  • BBB: 4.18/5 stars based on 483 reviews
  • Yelp: 2.2/5 stars based on 73 reviews
  • Yelp: 3.0/5 stars based on 63 reviews
  • G2: 3.2/5 stars based on 17 reviews

Positive reviews of Varsity Tutors by parents and students focus on the helpful services, the qualified and supportive tutors, the quick progress achieved by learners, the clear and understandable presentations of complex topics, the customized learning paces, the confidence-building approaches, the flexible strategies, the proactive communication, and the available customer support.

Negative Varsity Tutors by individuals reveal unprofessional practices, unqualified tutors, mediocre tutoring services, overly corporate structure, scammy practices, wrong credit card charges, and refusals to issue refunds.

Varsity Tutors Pros and Cons

The online tutoring services offered by Varsity Tutors come with some major advantages and disadvantages that schools and parents/guardians need to take into consideration and evaluate before deciding whether to enroll their students.

Varsity Tutors Pros

The most important benefits of Varsity Tutors compared to other e-learning service providers include:

  • K-12 grade coverage
  • Comprehensive subject coverage of 3,000+ courses
  • Tutoring services for both schools/districts and students/families
  • Both one-on-one and small-group tutoring available
  • Proprietary tech-driven platform for result optimization
  • Nationwide availability

Varsity Tutors Cons

The most considerable drawbacks of Varsity Tutors are:

  • Service scoped limited to online tutoring only (no virtual staffing and core instruction)
  • Non-state certified tutors
  • Lack of transparent pricing

Varsity Tutors Availability

Based on a Varsity Tutors review, online tutoring services are generally available across the US. There might, however, be some restrictions for certain subjects and courses.

The top states where Varsity Tutors is most widely used include:

  • Pennsylvania
  • Illinois
  • Virginia
  • California
  • Texas

Varsity Tutors services are most popular in the following school districts:

  • Camden County Technical Schools, NJ
  • Ohio Department of Education, OH
  • Kennewick School District, WA
  • Wichita Public Schools, KS

Varsity Tutors Alternatives

The diverse subject areas and the service delivery to both schools/districts and individuals make Varsity Tutors a potentially good choice for various customers. However, the absence of crucial e-learning services in high demand (like virtual staffing) and some bad customer reviews mean that the platform cannot meet the online learning needs of all students and institutions.

Here are the top competitors of Varsity Tutors for different types of situations and users:

Varsity Tutors vs Fullmind

Fullmind is a comprehensive e-learning platform that addresses the most pressing educational challenges in the US system, such as teacher shortages and lack of diverse courses in public schools. The company partners with schools and school districts and does not deliver services to individuals.

Fullmind services include synchronous core instruction, supplemental instruction, and virtual staffing. This means that classes and tutoring are delivered by live instructors in real time and promote interactions and cooperation between students and educators. Importantly, the course content is adjusted to the curriculum of each district to ensure alignment between in-person and online education and easy switching between the two modules. Instruction is available for all core K-12 subjects as well as in multiple elective courses.

All Fullmind instructors are state-certified in their subject and undergo a diligent selecting and vetting process before being hired. They get trained in online instruction to offer maximum value to students. Core instruction staff gets incorporated in the school community through participation in staff meetings and parent-teacher conferences as well as access to professional development.

Online education formats include one-on-one, small group, and whole class learning. Similar to Varsity Tutors and unlike some other alternatives, Fullmind provides specialized support for students with disabilities, homebound students, students in suspension, and students with other special needs.

Fullmind fees are competitive and depend on the specific services.

Varsity Tutors vs Air Tutors

Air Tutors is a close Varsity Tutors competitor in the live virtual tutoring space.

Similar to Varsity Tutors, Air Tutors provides online tutoring or supplemental instructions and does not offer virtual staffing or core instruction services. Tutoring is available for both schools and districts, on the one hand, and individual families and students, on the other hand. Covered subjects include basic subjects, AP classes, and 35 languages for K-12 grade. Delivery formats comprise one-on-one teaching and small groups of up to 4 students.

Like Varsity Tutors, Air Tutors does not necessarily hire state-licensed instructors, and tutors do not always have previous online teaching experience.

Air Tutors costs are around $100-$120/hour which is above the average in the industry.

Varsity Tutors vs Tutored by Teachers

Tutored by Teachers (TbT) is a Varsity Tutors alternative that expands beyond tutoring only to also cover vacancy support, virtual intervention, and summer academy. TbT customers include school districts and charter schools. On the flip side, Tutored by Teachers provides services exclusively in Math and English, while other core and elective subjects are entirely missing.

Meanwhile, TbT teachers are US credentialed and undergo a careful selection and vetting process.

Tutored by Teachers pricing is custom, and there is no range of fees on the company website.

Bottom Line

Our Varsity Tutors review shows that this is a technology-driven e-learning platform that delivers diverse types of live virtual tutoring to both schools/districts and individual students. The platform stands out with the available course diversity that covers over 3,000 different subjects. However, school administrators and parents need to keep in mind that Varsity Tutors staff are not state-licensed. Moreover, some negative customer reviews raise concerns about the quality of services and unprofessional practices.