What: Yup is a tutoring platform that enlists freelancers to teach math via cell phone. 

Expected pay: $10 – $15

Husl$core: $$

Commissions & fees: NA

Where: Nationwide

Requirements: written application; pass math exams; engage in a mock tutoring session

Review: 

Yup brags that its tutors are teachers and graduate students who meet the highest standards in mathematics. Only 5% of applicants are accepted, according to the site. However, if you have a college degree and great math skills, it’s hard to understand why you’d work for $10 an hour.

The job is flexible and you are paid for every minute that you log in to teach — not just the minutes spent teaching. However, the tutor pay is far lower than other tutoring sites. And it’s particularly dismal pay for teaching higher math. Tutors are paid once a month via PayPal.

The tutoring rates are likely low because of the way Yup charges parents. Parents buy tutoring plans for as little as $87 a month for “unlimited, 24/7” math tutoring. Yups’ students connect with tutors via cell phone.

We see two problems with this approach. It demands that tutors be available at all hours. And it creates the perception that Yup’s tutors have nothing better to do with their time. Remember the Doritos advertisement: “Eat all you want; we’ll make more”? Yup has created the tutoring equivalent. If you’re great at math, you can do better.

Recommendations

Better sites to ply your tutoring skills include Juni Learning, Chelsea International Education, Wyzant, Varsity Tutors and TutorMe.

What their users say: (from Glassdoor)

The quality and speed demanded is extremely high for such a low pay rate. There is a complicated system of levels, bonuses, and “pay multipliers” made to encourage quality and make it seem like a game. But these have little effect and ultimately max-out at around $14-15/hr

Pay is low — $11/hour for tutors, $15/hour for Tutor Quality Managers. And you’re an independent contractor so you pay extra taxes and get no benefits. When a tutor makes certain mistakes, like not asking to see a student’s work on part of a problem, the whole session is refunded. That means that the student gets their money back, and the tutor is not paid for the time they spent. 

Any serious employee might look for other options to advance career, since the job in this company will forever be perceived as a mere add-on income instead of a primary vocation.