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Our Policies

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Appointment Policies

Subject and language conversation practice appointments are available for current matriculated Stanford students enrolled in a course for which have qualified tutors/LCPs. If you are participating in a fellowship or exchange program that allows you to attend Stanford courses, please contact us for access to our appointment system. See our appointment schedule or drop-in schedule for current term offerings. 

Language conversation practice is available for students currently enrolled in an appropriate course through the Stanford Language Center (generally excluding courses that are outside of the sequenced curriculum such as 1-unit activity courses). If you are not enrolled in a language course, please contact the Bechtel International Center, other organizations on campus, or sign up for a language course next quarter for other opportunities to practice a language.

Students may sign up for their own appointments, cancel appointments, and access online appointments via TutorTrac. Appointments are available to book one week and up to 24 hours in advance, so check back daily.  

Students are limited to two appointments per day, per class and no more than four appointments per class a week. Tutors and LCPs may enforce stricter appointment limitations, especially for courses that are in high demand. Additional appointments may be made only with the approval of the Assistant Director. Contact them by emailing CTLtutoring@stanford.edu.

Drop-in Policies

Drop-in tutoring sessions are available for current matriculated Stanford students enrolled in a course for which have qualified tutors. See our schedule for drop-in hours and current term offerings. We will have course support posted on our schedule at various locations across campus. On some nights, only certain courses will be supported. If a student is seeking help in a course that isn’t listed on our drop-in schedule, there are no guarantees our tutors will be able to help with a course they are unfamiliar with.

For drop-in tutoring, students can come anytime during the posted hours for support. We recommend students budget their time appropriately. Do not come to drop-in hours at the last minute and expect the tutor to stay longer to help. 

Drop-in tutoring works on a first-come, first-served basis. Our tutors will do their best to assist everyone, so please be patient if they are working with someone when you first walk in. Our tutors may also group you with other students who are currently enrolled in the course—take advantage of this time and work with your classmates.  

If meeting in person, our drop-in tutors will have a sign and name tag to identify them as CTL tutors. 

Attendance Policies

Missed Appointments

If a student fails to show up for an appointment or cancels an appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice, the appointment will be marked as “Missed”. After two missed appointments, students will be unable to schedule appointments for the remainder of the quarter and will only be able to see a tutor during drop-in hours. Please note, if a student is canceling an appointment due to illness, email the tutor/LCP and CTLtutoring@stanford.edu prior to the appointment so that the assistant director can excuse that absence.

Cancellations and Reschedules

To avoid a missed appointment penalty, appointments must be canceled or rescheduled at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled appointment time. If canceling an appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice, students should email the tutor to let them know of the change of plans. See our tutorial for how to cancel and make appointments.

Tardiness and Attendance Time

If a student is more than 15 minutes late to the scheduled appointment (even if a student tells the tutor in advance they will be late), our staff reserves the right to refuse services, mark the appointment as missed, and ask to reschedule the appointment.

As tutoring services are in high demand, we kindly request that students use the allotted appointment time fully to receive the maximum benefit. If seeking quick answers to questions, we suggest utilizing alternative resources, such as drop-in tutoring hours, office hours, or online resources. Students who attend less than half of their scheduled appointment time will be marked as "missed". If a student has two missed appointments in a quarter, the student will be unable to make appointments and will only be able to see a tutor during drop-in hours.

Collaboration Policies

Please review any course-specific policies regarding tutoring and collaborating with others on assignments. It is your responsibility to understand the policies for what is and is not appropriate collaboration for your course.