This Scholar Agreement governs the relationship between HSCAssociate Pty Ltd (ABN 79 700 889 961) and each approved Scholar who applies for or uses HSCAssociate Scholars. Contact HSCAssociate at info@hscassociate.com.au.
By submitting a Scholar application, accepting this Agreement, accessing Scholar tools, receiving enquiries, scheduling lessons, assigning homework, publishing lesson reports or receiving tutoring payments through Scholars, you agree to this Agreement.
1. Definitions
"Agreement" means this Scholar Agreement. "Scholar" means the approved independent tutoring provider. "Customer" means the student, parent or guardian who contracts directly with the Scholar for tutoring. "Platform" means HSCAssociate Scholars.
2. Nature of relationship
This Agreement gives you access to platform tools and marketplace features. It does not appoint you to provide tutoring services for HSCAssociate.
3. No employment relationship
You are not an employee, worker, contractor, partner, agent or representative of HSCAssociate for employment, tax, superannuation, leave, wage, workers compensation or industrial purposes.
4. HSCAssociate does not engage you to tutor
HSCAssociate does not hire you to teach students on its behalf. You provide tutoring services directly to Customers who choose to start tutoring with you.
5. Scholar controls tutoring business
You control the tutoring services you offer, the students you accept, the rate you set, the sessions you schedule, the teaching approach you use and the business decisions you make, subject to law and platform standards.
6. No exclusivity
You may provide tutoring outside HSCAssociate and may use other lawful services. HSCAssociate does not require exclusivity.
7. No guaranteed work
HSCAssociate does not guarantee enquiries, students, minimum hours, minimum income, recurring lessons or any level of marketplace visibility.
8. 95+ ATAR eligibility
Scholar access is intended for high-achieving HSC tutors who meet HSCAssociate's entry standard, currently including a 95+ ATAR standard or approved equivalent evidence.
9. Verification
You must provide accurate identity, academic, subject, location, availability and experience information when requested. HSCAssociate may verify information and may decline, pause or remove access if information is incomplete, inaccurate or unsuitable.
10. Working With Children Check
You must maintain any required Working With Children Check or equivalent clearance for tutoring students where applicable. You must tell HSCAssociate promptly if a clearance is refused, suspended, withdrawn, expired or subject to a relevant change.
11. Safeguarding
You must comply with child-safety obligations, professional boundaries and lawful reporting duties. You must not use the platform to create unsafe contact, inappropriate communication or unsupervised arrangements contrary to law or platform requirements.
12. Scholar profile
Your public profile must be accurate, professional and not misleading. HSCAssociate may edit, hide or remove profile content for accuracy, quality, safety, legal compliance or platform integrity.
13. Own tutoring rate
You set your tutoring rate unless a specific feature or relationship displays an agreed rate. You are responsible for making rate changes clear to Customers before they apply.
14. Marketplace ranking
HSCAssociate may determine marketplace ordering, search, recommendations and visibility using factors such as subject match, profile completeness, availability, quality, safety, response behaviour and product testing.
15. Direct tutoring contract
When tutoring starts, the tutoring contract is between you and the Customer under the HSCAssociate Tutoring Terms and the agreed relationship details. HSCAssociate is not the tutoring provider.
16. Cancellation policy independence
You may agree reasonable cancellation expectations with Customers, but you must not misrepresent them as HSCAssociate policy unless the platform expressly states them.
17. Scheduling
You are responsible for entering accurate lesson dates, times, durations, subjects, students and attendance details. You must correct errors promptly.
18. Historical lesson recording
If the platform allows historical lesson records, you may enter them only where the tutoring actually occurred and the record is accurate.
19. Accurate lesson records
You must not create false, inflated, duplicate, misleading or fraudulent lesson records. A lesson record may affect reports, homework, payment status and Customer trust.
20. Lesson reports
You are responsible for submitting accurate lesson reports where required. Reports should be professional, relevant and appropriate for the Student and any parent or guardian with access.
21. Homework
You may assign platform practice, custom short answer work, essays, extended responses and other tasks using available tools. Homework should be appropriate to the Student, subject, year level and tutoring context.
22. Direct receipt of tutoring fees
Where payments are enabled, tutoring fees are paid for your tutoring services. Payment flows may be configured so direct charges occur on your connected Stripe account.
23. 0% commission current model
Under the current model, HSCAssociate charges 0% HSCAssociate commission on tutoring lesson fees. Stripe fees, taxes, bank costs, chargeback costs, refund costs and other third-party fees may still apply.
24. Stripe connected account
You may be required to complete Stripe Connect onboarding before receiving platform-managed tutoring payments. Stripe may require identity, business, tax, bank and risk information.
25. Automatic payments
Where a Customer has authorised automatic payments, the platform may attempt payment after a completed lesson becomes payment-ready. Payment processing remains asynchronous and subject to Stripe approval, authentication and risk controls.
26. Manual payments
Where automatic payment is not active or cannot be used, the platform may present manual payment options to the Customer. You must not pressure Customers outside the platform in a way that undermines safety or records.
27. Fraudulent billing prohibited
You must not request, create, submit or encourage payment for a lesson that did not occur, was materially shorter than recorded, was already paid, was cancelled without payment entitlement, or was otherwise not legitimately payable.
28. Scholar responsibility for charges
You are responsible for ensuring lesson charges reflect the agreed rate, actual duration and legitimate tutoring provided. You must cooperate to correct billing mistakes.
29. Fraud investigations
HSCAssociate may investigate suspected fraudulent billing, unsafe conduct, misleading records or payment abuse. We may review lesson records, reports, messages, payment records and related account activity where reasonably necessary.
30. Narrow fraud indemnity
To the extent permitted by law, you indemnify HSCAssociate for direct loss caused by your intentional fraudulent billing, knowing false lesson records or deliberate misuse of payment tools. This indemnity is limited to the relevant misconduct and does not remove rights you cannot lawfully waive.
31. Tax and business obligations
You are responsible for your own tax, ABN, GST, business records, insurance, professional obligations, expenses, equipment and compliance with laws that apply to your tutoring business.
32. No wages or employee entitlements
You are not entitled to wages, leave, superannuation, penalty rates, minimum engagement periods, redundancy pay or other employee entitlements from HSCAssociate because of your use of Scholars.
33. No ordinary teaching direction
HSCAssociate may set platform rules, safety standards and product requirements, but does not exercise ordinary employer-style direction over how you teach each lesson.
34. No mandatory availability
You choose your availability. HSCAssociate does not require you to offer particular days, hours, locations or lesson volumes.
35. No mandatory student acceptance
You decide whether to accept a Student or Customer, provided your decision complies with law and platform anti-discrimination, safety and integrity expectations.
36. Student-data boundaries
You may use student information only for the relevant tutoring relationship, safety, reporting, homework, payment support and lawful recordkeeping. You must not sell, copy, disclose or use student data for unrelated marketing or tutoring outside agreed boundaries.
37. Security
You must protect account access, devices, files, messages and student records. You must promptly report suspected unauthorised access or data compromise.
38. Platform learning tools
HSCAssociate may provide question banks, practice assignment tools, student progress views, lesson context, homework workflows and reporting aids. You must use them responsibly and review outputs where appropriate.
39. Automated marking
Automated marking and AI-assisted tools are support tools, not a substitute for professional judgement. You must not present them as guaranteed, infallible or equivalent to official school or examination marking.
40. Professional conduct
You must act professionally, communicate respectfully, be punctual where reasonably possible, keep appropriate records and avoid conduct that harms students, families, HSCAssociate or marketplace trust.
41. Academic integrity
You must not complete school assessments dishonestly for students, encourage cheating, misuse confidential assessment material or otherwise undermine academic integrity.
42. Reviews
Customer feedback may affect your profile, ranking or access. HSCAssociate may moderate reviews and may investigate review manipulation, retaliation or misleading feedback.
43. Profile suspension
HSCAssociate may hide or suspend your profile while reviewing safety, verification, quality, payment, fraud, legal or operational concerns.
44. Intellectual property
HSCAssociate owns or licenses the platform, software, designs, databases, workflows, question structures, generated materials and brand assets. You must not copy, scrape, resell or reverse engineer platform materials except as permitted.
45. Your materials
You retain rights in your own lawful teaching materials. You grant HSCAssociate a licence to host, display and process materials you upload as needed to operate Scholars.
46. Complaints and investigations
You must cooperate reasonably with complaints, safeguarding reviews, payment investigations and accuracy checks. You must not retaliate against a Student, parent or guardian for raising a concern.
47. Fair process
Where practical, HSCAssociate will consider relevant context before taking significant action. Immediate restrictions may be required for safety, legal, fraud, payment or security reasons.
48. Termination by Scholar
You may stop using Scholars, subject to completing or appropriately ending existing commitments, correcting records and addressing outstanding payment or dispute matters.
49. Termination by HSCAssociate
HSCAssociate may terminate or restrict Scholar access for breach, safety concerns, verification failure, fraud risk, sustained quality concerns, legal compliance or platform integrity.
50. Consequences of termination
Termination may remove profile visibility and access to Scholar tools. HSCAssociate may retain records for legal, safety, audit, dispute, tax, payment and operational purposes.
51. Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, HSCAssociate is not liable for your lost profits, lost opportunities, business interruption, student decisions, Customer disputes, academic outcomes or indirect loss arising from your use of Scholars.
52. Australian Consumer Law
Nothing in this Agreement excludes, restricts or modifies rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law or other applicable law.
53. Electronic acceptance
Submitting an application with the agreement checkbox, clicking acceptance controls or continuing to use Scholar tools after being presented with this Agreement may constitute electronic acceptance.
54. Activation requirements
Scholar activation may require approval, verified academic records, identity checks, safeguarding checks, profile completion, legal acceptance, payment onboarding and any other requirements reasonably imposed by HSCAssociate.
55. Version updates
HSCAssociate may update this Agreement. If changes require reacceptance, we may require you to accept the updated version before continuing to use Scholar features.
56. Confidentiality
You must keep non-public HSCAssociate, student, parent, payment, safety and operational information confidential except where disclosure is authorised or required by law.
57. Privacy
You must handle personal information consistently with the HSCAssociate Scholars Privacy Policy and applicable privacy obligations.
58. Public statements
You must not make misleading claims about HSCAssociate, your status, your results, your relationship with HSCAssociate or guaranteed student outcomes.
59. Assignment
You must not assign or transfer your Scholar account or this Agreement without HSCAssociate's consent. HSCAssociate may assign its rights and obligations as part of a restructure, sale, merger or platform transfer.
60. Severability
If any provision is invalid or unenforceable, it is severed to the extent necessary and the remainder continues in force.
61. Waiver
A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. Any waiver applies only to the specific matter for which it is given.
62. Governing law
This Agreement is governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. The parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the courts that hear appeals from them.
63. Contact
Questions about this Agreement may be sent to HSCAssociate Pty Ltd at info@hscassociate.com.au.
64. Schedule 1 - Scholar independence
The parties acknowledge that Scholars control their tutoring business, rate, availability, teaching approach, student acceptance and business expenses, and that HSCAssociate provides platform access rather than employment.
65. Schedule 2 - Payment and fraud standards
A Scholar must maintain accurate lesson records, must not submit false charges, must cooperate with payment corrections and may be responsible for Stripe fees, chargebacks, refunds, taxes and costs arising from their own tutoring business.
66. Schedule 3 - Platform standards
Scholar access depends on professional conduct, safeguarding, accurate profiles, lawful communications, data boundaries, academic integrity, verification and continued compliance with platform rules.