Classroom Alert: Tutoring Scam

To: Departmental Executive Officers
From: Helena Dettmer, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Curriculum and the Humanities
RE: Classroom Alert: Tutoring Scam

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We have heard from faculty and staff that students are being solicited during lectures for a “free review before the next exam.” An official looking signup sheet is circulated during class anonymously asking for students’ name and cell phone numbers, with a sample below:

Tutoring Sign-up

We are very aware that there are “study” scams that offer to take students’ tests for them and to write their papers. Students collecting names and numbers are mostly likely paid.

  • If you should see this or a similar sheet being circulated, please let your students know that the signup list is not approved and is not one of your class activities. The sheet is likewise not from Tutor Iowa or, for example, from peer mentors leading supplemental instruction sections.
  • Please remind students to protect their personal information and that soliciting of any kind is not allowed in the classroom.
  • If you notice a signup sheet circulating, please immediately collect it and ask the students in the room to email you if they happen to know anything about it.

As you know, class visitors should be there only with your permission and only for educational purposes.

Thank you for helping to protect our students.

If you learn any more about these incidents, please let me know so we can share this information with others. I appreciate your time on this matter.