Appointment Policies
Tutoring Services programming is open to all currently enrolled Vanderbilt students and is free of charge. This page details important policies regarding students’ ability to access that programming and their responsibilities when doing so.
Visit our Guide to How to Make a Tutoring Appointment for a detailed overview of how to schedule, modify, or cancel a Tutoring Services appointment.
Quick Policies Navigation
- When Can Appointments Be Scheduled?
- Appointment Limits (Daily and Weekly)
- Late Arrival Policy
- Missed Appointment (“No Show”) Policy
- Appointment Cancellation Policy
- Appointments are Nontransferable – Clients May Only Make Appointments for Themselves
- Appointment Locations
- Can I change my appointment location from one location to another?
When Can Appointments Be Scheduled?
We recommend students plan ahead in scheduling appointments. We see surges in demand for tutoring appointments as exams approach.
How far in advance and how late can appointments be scheduled?
Individual and Group Appointments can both be reserved up to 7 days in advance of the current date using Tutoring Services’ online scheduler (WCOnline) and as late as the minute before an available appointment is set to begin.*
Appointment scheduling is subject to our Daily and Weekly Appointment Limits.
*Clients should note that the Appointment Cancellation window differs between Individual and Group Appointments (see below).
Are walk-in appointments available?
Although Tutoring Services does not schedule designated “walk-in” hours, students should be aware of the following options (while keeping in mind our Daily and Weekly Appointment Limits):
- Prior to an appointment’s start time, unclaimed appointments can be claimed through our online scheduler (WCOnline) as late as the minute before they begin.
- WCOnline’s Waiting List Feature offers a convenient way to be notified when appointments become available due to cancellations.
- Virtual walk-in option for Unclaimed Appointments: After an unclaimed online appointment’s start time, students may call our front desk (during phone hours) or email us at tutoring@vanderbilt.edu to request the appointment, if it is still available.
- Virtual Walk-in Option for No-Show Appointments: Even when no appointments are available, students may also call our front desk (during phone hours) or email us at tutoring@vanderbilt.edu to request to be a walk-in for any No-Show appointments. (See Missed Appointment (“No Show”) Policy below.)
Appointment Limits (Daily and Weekly)
(updated Spring 2022)
For the Spring 2022 semester, we will be temporarily updating our Appointment Limits (Daily and Weekly) such that appointments can be made up to seven days in advance, rather than 14 days in advance.
The 7-day appointment scheduling window will allow us greater flexibility in adjusting our tutors’ shifts (for instance, between online and in-person shifts) as circumstances may require this semester.
Thank you for your patience and understanding with this change.
Fall semester appointment limits
Due to high demand, during fall clients may reserve
- one appointment per day per schedule (individual tutoring and group)
- two appointments per week* per schedule (individual tutoring and group)
- up to 7 days in advance of the current date
*For the purpose of the weekly appointment limit, our online scheduling system, WCOnline, treats the week as running Monday through Sunday.
Spring Semester appointment limits
During spring clients may reserve
- one appointment per day per schedule (individual tutoring and group)
- three appointments per week per schedule (individual tutoring and group)
- up to 7 days in advance of the current date
Your Appointments, Your Responsibilities
Responsibility to Arrive Promptly – Late Arrival Policy
Please arrive for or log into your tutoring session promptly. For in-person tutoring (when available), please let the person at the front desk know you are here upon your arrival.
Our policy is to open appointments to walk-ins if the client has not arrived by 10 minutes after the appointment’s start time. We cannot guarantee reservations for students who arrive more than 10 minutes after the scheduled start time of a session.
Those whose appointments are taken by a walk-in client will be subject to our Missed Appointment Policy.
Responsibility to Cancel Appointments If Necessary
It is your responsibility to cancel any appointments which you will be unable to attend, and we ask you to do so as far in advance as possible to allow another student to make use of our limited tutoring resources.
Failure to cancel a one-on-one or group appointment in a timely fashion according to the policies below will result in the appointment being marked as a missed or “no show” appointment and subject to our Missed Appointment Policy.
1-on-1 Appointment Cancellation Policy
Our online scheduler makes cancelling (or modifying) appointments simple, which our online scheduler currently allows until shortly before an appointment’s start time.
As a courtesy to your fellow students and to your tutors, however, we ask that you cancel appointments before at least 8 hours whenever possible. Doing so will allow the greatest chance for another student may make use of that time.
LATE CANCELLATION POLICY
We encourage you to cancel appointments at least 4 hours in advance, whenever possible. This allows the scheduled block to open for your peers who may be seeking an appointment.
You can cancel appointments online or by contacting the location where your appointment is scheduled by phone or email.
Accessing the Schedule with a Disabled Account
If you cancel an appointment fewer than 4 hours before the scheduled start time, you will receive an automated “late cancellation” notice.
Our scheduling system, WCOnline, enforces a Late Cancellation Policy:
- Clients who accrue 3 “late cancellations” will have their accounts deactivated for the rest of the semester.
- If your account is deactivated, you will be unable to view the schedule or make appointments.
- To reactivate your account, you will need to contact tutoring@vanderbilt.edu and request to meet with the Administrative Specialist.
- The meeting is required to discuss the reactivation of your account.
- In the meantime, you will be able to access appointments on a walk-in basis.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in helping us manage our appointment resources effectively.
Contact information and hours for purposes of cancelling or other important communication:
Email: tutoring@vanderbilt.edu
Clients who lose appointment schedule privileges multiple semesters in a row may face further restrictions.
Group Appointment Cancellation Policy
When it is necessary to cancel an appointment for a group session, either a Weekly Learning Roundtable or Pre-Exam Group Study Group, your group appointment must be cancelled at least 4 hours before groups are set to meet.
These sessions can be in high demand, and “no shows” undermine the efficacy of the groups and prevent other eager students from taking part. On the other hand, cancelling in a timely fashion allows other students the opportunity to access the session.
Cancelling (or modifying) an appointment within our online scheduler takes only a few simple clicks. You may need to switch from our one-on-one to our group schedule.
Failure to cancel group appointments at least 4 hours before the group session will be subject to our Missed Appointment Policy.
Missed Appointment (“No Show”) Policy
As with our Late Cancellation Policy, after 3 missed appointments a writer will lose the privilege to schedule appointments for the remainder of the semester.
An appointment is marked as missed at 50 minutes past the scheduled start of the appointment if the client has not appeared. If the appointment has been given to a walk-in client due to tardiness (see “Tardiness for Appointments”), your appointment will be marked as missed.
If your appointment is marked as missed, you will receive an automated “missed appointment” notice.
Accessing the Schedule with a Disabled Account
If your account is disabled due to missed appointments, our scheduling system, WCOnline, will not allow you to log in and view the schedule or make appointments.
Our scheduling system, WCOnline, enforces a Missed Appointment Policy:
- Clients who miss 3 appointments will have their accounts deactivated for the rest of the semester.
- If your account is deactivated, you will be unable to view the schedule or make appointments.
- To reactivate your account, you will need to contact tutoring@vanderbilt.edu and request to meet with the Administrative Specialist.
- The meeting is required to discuss the reactivation of your account.
This policy helps ensure fair access to our appointment resources. Please let us know if you have any questions!
Clients who lose appointment schedule privileges multiple semesters in a row may face further restrictions.
Appointments Are Nontransferable – Clients May Only Schedule Appointments for Themselves
It is our policy that each student client may only make appointments for themselves, and appointments can not be given up or transferred to anyone else.
Students who use another student’s account for the purpose of scheduling an appointment, who use their account to schedule appointments someone else intends to attend, as well as those who attend a tutoring appointment in another’s place will be given a warning and placed on probation for a first violation. A second violation will result in suspension of scheduling privileges for the remainder of the semester.
Appointment Locations
Tutoring Services holds appointments in three locations.
- 1801 Edgehill, Suite 112
- Online via the Vanderbilt Zoom platform
- Commons Fireside Lounge
Where will my appointment take place?
During the process of scheduling an appointment, you will see your appointment’s location indicated in several ways. When your tutor’s name is listed in our online schedule under just their name, i.e., John Smith, this indicates that your appointment is held in our in-person office suite in the Curb Center building at 1801 Edgehill Ave., Suite 112. When your tutor’s name has a parenthetical following, this indicates that your appointment is held in our online or Commons locations, i.e., John Smith (online) or John Smith (Commons).
When you receive your email confirmation to your scheduled tutoring session, you will see in the body of the email a section titled “Location” which will detail whether your session is held at 1801 Edgehill, Zoom, or at the Commons.
After I have scheduled an appointment, can I change where it will be held (online or in person)?
No. We are currently treating “online” as one of the locations for which we schedule our tutors shifts, and we ask clients to consider the location of appointments they have scheduled as fixed.
We schedule our tutors for either in-person shifts or online shifts, and it is not always possible or convenient for them to move between the two, particularly on short notice. Tutoring sessions that are meant to be held in-person are set up with strict parameters for the in-person visit, and asking for the parameters to shift to an online modality requires our tutors and our administrative staff to make modality adjustments. While these adjustments may seem minor or minuscule, they do have large repercussions that may not be immediately visible to a requesting client.
Therefore, in order for our schedule of tutoring hours to be as consistent and predictable as possible for both our tutors and clients, we ask clients who wish to move from an in-person appointment to an online appointment (or vice versa) to cancel their original appointment and reschedule another that aligns with their desired location instead.
Flexibility for COVID-19 and other Extenuating Circumstances
We know that our current moment will inevitably require flexibility and adjustments on our part as much as yours.
When extenuating circumstances require us to change the details of appointments you have booked, including shifting in-person appointments online, we take pains to communicate the change to both client and tutor with as much notice as possible. We ask the same of you.
If you feel that your appointment with a tutor needs to be given an exception, please do reach out to us as far in advance as possible at tutoring@vanderbilt.edu. We cannot guarantee consideration of requests sent on short notice.
Important Notices to Tutoring Services’ Clients
- In respect to Title IX, the Writing Studio and Tutoring Services office is considered neither a confidential nor a limited confidential resource, and our staff (full-time and student employees) are mandatory reporters obligated to report allegations of sexual misconduct to the university’s Title IX office.
- As part of the extended Student Care Network, we report concerns pertaining to safety and students’ personal, physical, or emotional wellbeing.