Program Terms

last update 08.18.2021

Program Terms and Conditions

Any family that has purchased our services has agreed to this terms and conditions.

The parties have entered into this Agreement to provide services to the student. In connection with providing such services and as an element of the consideration for entering into this Agreement, the Parent/Student agrees to accept the following terms and conditions of this Agreement and in consideration of the mutual promises herein contained, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby accepted,/College Shortcuts and Parent/Student agree as follows.

Fees Payable to the Company

Parent/Student shall be responsible to pay College Shortcuts for Services provided and agreed to during their call with the Admissions Specialist.

Refund Policy

Once your first session has occurred, students/families have 48 hours to express their concern and provide feedback by emailing us at  support@collegeshortcuts.com. If necessary, we will switch the consultant assigned to deliver services to ensure client satisfaction and to resolve the situation. We want to move forward in the best way possible to support your child to ensure a positive experience.

It is your responsibility to let our team know after your child’s first session, within 48 hours, if you are unsatisfied with our services and share your concerns with us to receive a refund. After the 48 hours of your first session with the consultant, no refunds will be processed.

We encourage families to use our services to the fullest extent.  Should Families/Students decide not to use all of the services purchased or mentorship sessions purchased, there will be no partial refunds on your initial purchase price.

Refund processing: All refunds granted will be completed less the processing fee.  This is variable depending on the platform used to purchase the services and can range between 5% and 8%.  These fees are determined by the banks, credit card companies and payment processors, not by College Shortcuts.

Hourly and Session Expectations

The number of hours of support or number of sessions that your child will receive varies depending on the package you have chosen, the needs of your child, and the amount of support required. For example, our essay editing team does various rounds of editing work to save you and your child time, and we also have consultants ensuring everything is handled in a timely and effective way including the application submission process online. Rest assured that our goal is to provide a world-class service to you as a family. Everything is customized to each child as every child is different, yet we follow a time-tested and results-oriented process that we have refined and perfected over 14 years working with thousands of students. You will be paired with a team member to ensure great results in an accelerated time frame. Your welcome email will give you the exact details of what is included in your service purchage.

Services Provided

Mentorship and Capstone

Mentorship: If your child is between the 1st grade and the 11th grade, this program provides guidance and mentorship regarding academics, extracurricular activities, and leadership experiences.

As a guideline, our standard protocol is two calls per month at 30 minutes per call. Calls do not roll-over to the next month or accumulate.

In addition, as part of this program you will have email access to our consulting team via email 24/7 - this protocol is typically used for families from 6th grade to 12th grade.

Please note, we may make recommendations if needed regarding stress and anxiety for your child by recommending tutoring or test prep services, and these are additional cost services if you work with us or other companies. Our goal is to create a conscious, healthy environment for your child while they navigate their academic career and work with our mentors on managing their time and best practices for being a high performing student.

Capstone: This is our 10-week group program. All expectations are written in our welcome email.

Tutoring Program

Our tutoring rates vary depending on what service is requested. Please note if you have a session and do not cancel within 24 hours of the session, it is a full 100% charge for the cancellation of the appointment, as another student could have taken the appointment.

If you need to make changes to your appointments or any questions that you may have, please direct them to support@collegeshortcuts.com.

If there are any issues with tutor selection, we can change your tutor out to ensure your child is happy with their tutor. Our tutors are trained and have experience working with students. Please note, we make no guarantees with our tutoring as it is highly dependent on your student and the efforts they put in. We have seen in some cases, students increase their scores on the SAT by 200-400 points and ACT with 4-12 point increases. For the WPPSI/ISEE/OLSAT, we have helped students get into some of the most sought out private schools in the country. Please remember to be on time for appointments and have your child ready for sessions.

College Mastery Program:

The number of hours of support or number of sessions that your child receives varies depending on the package you have chosen and the needs of your child. Please note if you have a session and do not cancel within 24 hours of the session, it is a full 100% charge for the cancellation of the appointment.

Once your first session has occurred student/families have 48 hours to express any concerns and please provide feedback by emailing us at support@collegeshortcuts.com. If necessary, we will go ahead and switch the consultant assigned to deliver services to ensure client satisfaction and to ensure that we are able to resolve the situation. We want to move forward in the best way possible to support your child to ensure a positive experience.

If that is not a solution that works for you, it is your responsibility to let our team know after your child’s first session with a consultant, within 48 hours, if you are unsatisfied with our services it is up to you to share your concerns with our support team by email within 48 hours of the first session to receive a full refund. After 48 hours no refunds will be processed.

Please note, we make no guarantees about the admissions acceptance as this is up to the individual schools. We will do everything we can to ensure your child has the best chance of acceptance. Our welcome email gives you all information and expectations of this program.

Application Concierge

The monthly fee for this service allows for up to 5 questions each month. If the questions are easy, we strive to respond within 48-72 hours. We strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information being extremely thorough to answer your questions. Our response times do not include time outside of business hours, which are Monday through Friday 9am-5pm Central Standard Time.

There are no refunds for monthly fees. You can cancel this service at any time. If you notify support by email to cancel this service within 3 days of the monthly invoice we will process a full refund provided no services have been used by the family. After the 3 days, there will be no refunds for the month. The 5 questions do not accumulate and do not roll over to the next month.

Digital Products and Books

There are 100% refunds (less the service charge) for all digital product or book purchase when requested in writing to support@collegeshortcuts.com within 30 days of purchase.

Terms and Conditions

As stated by law, we cannot and do not make any guarantees about your child’s ability to get results or gain acceptance to any colleges with our ideas, information, programs or strategies.

We will make our best effort to know your child and your family, but results in this program are up to you. We're here to help by giving your child our expert guidance and greatest strategies to move them forward, faster. However, nothing in this agreement or any of our websites or emails is a promise or guarantee of the future. Any acceptance rates or statistics referenced on any of our sites or emails, or marketing messages are simply estimates or projections or past results, and should not be considered exact, actual or as a promise of potential results - all numbers are illustrative only.

Just as with any coaching relationship, it is up to the student and the family to follow protocol, and with this, you can absolutely achieve great results. It is required that your child shows up for their sessions, follows up, and books all appointments in an organized manner to get the best results using our consulting program.

Setting Expectations - To get the Best Value for College Admissions

At College Shortcuts, we have been doing this for the past 14 years, and so we have a certain level of service we like to deliver. When you have appointments set by our consulting department, please note that you are required to put the information on your calendar, and show up for appointments. If you do not show up for an appointment or cancel within the 24 hour cancellation window, you forfeit the session. If you miss more than 2 sessions we cannot guarantee that you will be able to complete your package within the program timeframe and you may be required to extend your program at an additional cost.

When you email your questions to our support department, please first try to get all questions answered during your session time. If they are not answered, please reach out to your consultant directly by email. If you reach out in between touch base appointments, please note that in the rare event that the response time is greater than 72 hours, our consultants are likely to checking in with each other, as well as our management team, to make sure we are giving thorough answers back to your questions - instead of just a knee-jerk response to your question.

If the questions are easy, we may respond within 48-72 hours, but we need to make sure that we are being extremely thorough with your questions regarding your child and setting expectations on response time. Our response times do not include time outside of business hours, which are Monday through Friday 9am-5pm Central Standard Time.

In addition, we expect our families to follow our software that we use to ensure that all communication is tracked and in one place. It is the latest software available in college admissions to help students with their college admissions process, and we want families to use this software in order to ensure all of us are on the same page and all communication is tracked within the software versus lots of emails.

Setting Expectations - Departments and Contacts to Contact

Consulting Department: This will be the point of contact for any customer service issues: support@collegeshortcuts.com - as this is the best place to reach out to. We are available from 9-5PM CST Monday to Friday except on holidays.

Moving Forward

Again, we like to be completely up front in our expectations together, as we want to make sure you are taken care of. Whenever we take on a family to work with, we want to make sure they are looked after, and this document will help us to both agree upon what we are doing moving forward and expectations so that we are all on the same page. This process has worked for the last 14 years with many families, and we are so excited to have your child on board with us!

Obligations of College Shortcuts Team

College Shortcuts shall select a consultant for the Student. College Shortcuts shall make arrangements with a different consultant to teach the Student in the event the assigned consultant cannot continue the assignment due to conditions beyond College Shortcuts’ control. We do not guarantee that you will have the same consultant throughout your time with us, as we believe in a team approach and involving multiple viewpoints to ensure success in our programs.

College Shortcuts and the consultant shall keep confidential all information of the Student and shall not contact other parties involved in Student’s education only at the written permission of the Student.

The consultant shall at no time be required or obliged to execute homework or assignments on behalf of the Student.

Obligations of the Student

The Student undertakes to assist the consultant in identifying problem areas in which the Student needs specific assistance. The Student agrees to book all appointments in a timely fashion and schedule them to ensure success in the program.

The Student agrees to behave in a cordial manner and treat the consultant with respect.

The Student agrees that assignments, exercises or homework form an integral part of the experience and the Student undertakes to complete such work in a timely manner. The Student takes lead in the sessions and parents are not to be on the calls or leading the sessions with consultants. The Student and Parent have read through all documents and onboarding information and agree to all the terms stated.

No Warranties

College Shortcuts and the consultants make no promises or warranties with regards to a Student's performance as a result of the services provided. College Shortcuts makes no guarantees that the same consultants shall be available.

Minors

Where the Student is a legal minor, the Parent/Guardian shall enter into this consulting contract on behalf of the Student and shall accept and agree to all the terms and conditions contained herein on behalf of the Student.

Entire Agreement

These terms and conditions contain the entire agreement of the parties, and there are no other promises or conditions in any other agreement whether oral or written.

Applicable Law

These terms and conditions shall be governed by the laws of the State of Texas with a proper venue in Harris County.

Attorney’s Fees and Costs

In the event of any dispute or legal action or proceeding between the parties hereto relating to these terms and conditions, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover all its expenses, costs of litigation and reasonable attorneys’ fees from the non- prevailing party in such action or proceeding.

Severability

If any provision of these terms and conditions shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and enforceable. If a court finds that any provision of these terms and conditions are invalid or unenforceable, but that by limiting such provision it would become valid and enforceable, then such provision shall be deemed to be written, construed, and enforced as so limited.

BY PURCHASING THIS PACKAGE, PARENT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT SHE/HE HAS READ AND UNDERSTOOD THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, AGREES THAT THESE PROVISIONS ARE REASONABLE, AND VOLUNTARILY AGREES TO ABIDE BY ITS TERMS.