Is Course Hero a Scam, or a Legit Way to Make Money Online?

Thanks for stopping by to check out my Course Hero review. As a make-money-online opportunity to help others, Course Hero might be what you're looking for. Is it legit though? Some have claimed they exploit students and tutors for profit.

In this Course Hero review I'll go over who they are, what they do, and hopefully provide enough insight so you can decide if it's worth your time.  

Disclaimer:
Please note, I am not a member or an affiliate for Course Hero. This review has been researched with information and/or testimonials that are available online in the public domain. Any recommendations and/or conclusions are strictly opinions and may not to apply to, or agree with, all persons or situations. See full disclaimer for more info

What Is Course Hero?

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Course Hero is an online learning resource where students and tutors can access millions of subject specific documents.

Founded in 2006 and based out of Redwood City in California, they provide three ways for you to make money online.

• Uploading Documents
• Referring Friends
• Tutoring

Similar in some ways to other online learning platforms like StudySoup, Course Hero pays you to upload educational material such as study guides, flashcards, quizzes, class notes and practice exams.

When you refer a friend, you can earn a commission from the materials they upload.

Tutoring for Course Hero is different than most online tutoring platforms. Rather than a virtual classroom type setting, Course Hero's tutors spend their time in a Q&A type forum… which is a great way to help others if you don’t enjoy the 1-on-1 live video of other work-at-home tutoring companies like Tutor.com or Chegg.

If none of this sounds appealing to you but you'd still like to make some extra money online, doing surveys on sites like surveyjunkie.com may be a better fit for what you're looking for. You can even make money with ​​​​Inbox Dollars doing things you already do online… like watching videos, searching the web and visiting websites.

Another option, if entrepreneurship is in your soul 🙂 is to start an online business.  

Whether you're looking for a home income because of health challenges, children at home or you just don't want to work a regular job, a simple place to start is what you need in order to get what you want. 

To learn how I did it, I'm going to give you a free step by step beginner's guide to making money online and you can get it by clicking HERE.

Is Course Hero a Scam?

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There are couple things we should talk about here.

First, Course Hero is not one of those complete scams… the kind that sets up a fake website and just flat-out rips you off.

Second, although there are some significant complaints about Course Hero, and accusations of them being a scam (image below)… It should be noted that they’ve been around longer than a decade, and have become a big part of the online learning industry.

Although the reviewer above says Course Hero (not to be confused with Commission Hero) is a scam, his comments only indicate that he's not happy with the pay.  If that's the criteria we're using to determine if something is a scam… 99.9 percent of all businesses would be under investigation. 😀 

My personal opinion is that they are not a scam. 

One troubling complaint is that Course Hero gets tutors to work for them, and then kicks them out before paying.

That's a serious accusation, but there are multiple complaints all reporting the same fraud.

Here is one tutors perpective. NOTE: this video is for informational purposes only. I do not endorse it.

Again, in my opinion it would be hard for a company to consistently scam people since 2006 and survive to talk about it. I can't verify the complaints… 

All I can do is share what the research shows… and leave it for you to decide.

Is Course Hero Cheating?

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Separate from the scam issue, are the complaints that Course Hero encourages cheating. 

When it comes to cheating, schools usually have an honor code, in which students agree they will not use “unauthorized” assistance, particularly related to exams and papers. 

In that context, an argument can be made that the entire web encourages cheating (depending on how you define cheating). 

In my opinion, the ultimate goal is to learn the subject material, and websites like Course Hero can be valuable resource. Students who use Course Hero to cheat, will find a way to cheat whether Course Hero or similar sites exist or not. 

We could get Orwellian and lock the internet down… but then we'll have an entirely different set of problems to deal with.

How Does It Work?

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The registration process (for tutoring) is relatively simple but can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (often depending on the number of courses you choose to tutor).  

Once you create your account and fill out the application, Course Hero will contact you for a phone interview. If accepted there is a one-day basic training course you must take.

Requirements

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There are no specific educational or tutoring requirements, however, you do need to prove that you have sufficient knowledge in the subjects you plan to teach and answer questions about.

A computer and web access is required, and if you also want to earn money by uploading study guides, class notes, etc. you'll need a scanner or a cell phone with a decent camera.

I personally use an Android app called CamScanner. It’s simple and works great for small jobs. I wouldn’t use to scan hundreds of documents… but for a few dozen it works fine. 

How Much Does It Cost?

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As a student purchasing documents and resources, memberships are between $10 and $40 depending on whether you pay monthly, bi-annually, or annually (although you can access the flashcards for free).

If you're just in it for the money (nothing wrong with that 😀…), uploading documents and tutoring won't cost you anything.

How Much Does Course Hero Pay?

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Course Hero doesn’t provide any solid information here. I had to do a lot of searching to find information regarding pay, and I can’t say that I’d trust what I found completely.

If you’re uploading materials, I found one person saying they pay between $0.25 and $0.75 per document.

As far as tutoring, you are paid $1.00 to $5.00 per question that you answer… depending on the subject and complexity of the question. Quite often, when you unpack a single question, there are several more inside that require explanation before you can get to the main one.

How many questions you'll have available will depend on the number of subjects you’ve been approved for, and how quickly you can accurately answer them.

A common problem with online jobs is not the pay-per-task, but the inconsistency of available work. If you combine Course Hero with other methods of making money online though, you'll always have a pocket full of extra money 🙂 

You can do surveys on sites like Survey Junkie to make money, or you can surf the web, watch videos and even play games with Inbox Dollars. 

If you're looking for a full-time online income for whatever reason… not sure about your career path or you'd rather be an entrepreneur, then starting a business you can do in your spare time is what you want. 

The strategies and secrets that online entrepreneurs are using are what you need to get what you want.

Now, I'm going to give you a free step by step beginner's guide to making money online and you can get it by Clicking Here

Course Hero Schedule

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One of the challenges people have with 1-on-1 online tutoring, is that your schedule is limited by the hours your students are available.

Course Hero’s question and answer format is more flexible. You can log on whenever you like and pick and choose your questions. The same with uploading documents.

Reviews and Complaints

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There’s no real way to paint a pretty picture here. The negative Course Hero reviews definitely outweigh the positive.

Among the common complaints are,

• The pay is very low.
• When a student or customer complains, Course Hero will suspend your account without debate.
• The fraud accusations of tutoring right up to the point of getting paid (it takes 14 days for payments to clear), and then, with no clear explanation as to why, getting banned. 

To contradict those claims, one of the positive things said… is that Course Hero consistently pays. They've also been around a long time which would not be the case if tutors were not getting paid. 

It's easy to look at a group of complaints and make an overall assumption, but to be fair, each complaint or accusation is an individual case with it's own circumstances. We may not be getting the full story.

What I Like

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• Personally, I like the Q&A tutoring format because it’s provides greater schedule flexibility.
• Free to sign up.
• Multiple ways to earn money.

What I Don’t Like

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• It would be nice if positive – negative reviews were more balanced.  
• Low pay.
• You’re still trading hours for dollars. There is no passive income potential here.

Final Thoughts

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Course Hero isn't perfect, but they have potential. It's also free to get started, so I wouldn't discourage you from checking them out. 

They're not the only free opportunity out there though. There are hundreds of work-at-home gigs you might find to be a better fit… and as a tutor or home freelancer, you may want to diversify and work with more than one. 

As mentioned earlier, you can also make some pocket cash doing online surveys on sites like surveyjunkie.com and ​​​​inboxdollars.com, or satisfy your entrepreneurial craving by starting an online business.

If you've read this far, you're probably more serious than most people are about earning an income from home. Maybe it's because of a medical issue, young ones at home, or a soft job market… either way, a simple place to start is what you need in order to get what you want. 

To learn how I did it, I'm going to give you a free step by step beginner's guide to making money online and you can get it by clicking HERE.

I hope this Course Hero review was helpful and for those interested, you can register here.

Now it’s your turn. Do you have experience with or questions about Course Hero?