Course Hero, a tutoring company valued at $3.6 billion, recently laid off 15% of its staff, about 42 people. This is the first time they’ve had to do this in 17 years. The company explained that these changes are part of a plan to prepare Course Hero for future growth. They don’t expect to have more layoffs after this.
This happened after one of the founders, Andrew Grauer, left his position as the company’s leader four months ago. Now, Course Hero is part of a larger company called Learneo, and a new leader, John Peacock, took over. These are some of the first big things he’s done since becoming the new leader. He emailed these changes to the staff in the past months.
In an email obtained by TechCrunch, the boss of Course Hero explained, “They had to let some people go. It’s the first time they’ve had to do this in the 17 years since they started. They said it wasn’t an easy decision but had to be done because the way things work in their industry is changing fast. Also, they needed to make sure the company could keep growing.
Course Hero started in 2006 and only asked for a little money from investors for a long time. After eight years, they got $15 million. Then they waited another six years before getting more money. In 2020, they got even more funding. In 2021, they got a huge amount of money, $380 million, making the company worth $3.6 billion. With this money, they bought other businesses like Scribbr and LitCharts. It needs to be clarified if they will keep buying more businesses now that they must let some people go.
The company says they are making enough money to cover costs and have some left over.
Course Hero’s Commitment with Severance Pay and More
The company was committed to helping the people who lost their jobs by giving them severance pay (money to help them for a few months), health care benefits in June, and assistance with finding new jobs. They also worked with people with special needs to ensure they had support during this time.
What Is Course Hero?
Course Hero is a company from California. It helps students with their studies using the Internet. Students can find lots of study materials and get help from tutors on their website.
To use Course Hero, students must pay to subscribe or share their study materials. The website has practice problems, study guides, class notes, and videos. People can ask questions, and tutors give them answers. You can also share your study materials if you want to avoid paying. In return, you get access to more documents on the website.
Course Hero’s Origins and Growth
Course Hero started in 2006 when Andrew Grauer wanted to make it easier for college students to share their class notes, lectures, and assignments.
Over time, the company got money from investors to grow. In 2014, they got $15 million; in 2020, they got another $10 million. They used this money to buy other companies like Symbolab, which helps with math problems, and LitCharts, a guide for literature.
In 2021, Course Hero got a lot more money, $380 million, making the company worth $3.6 billion. Some people, however, think it could be better. People who pay to use Course Hero can sometimes download papers from other students and submit them as their own. Also, the website lets students upload their homework and get someone else to do it for them, like a homework helper business. The company gets content for free from users who upload things, or users can pay a yearly fee of $83.40 or a monthly cost of $19.95.
Is Course Hero Legit Or Scam?
Wondering about Course Hero? No worries! It’s a real and trustworthy learning website. They’re not trying to trick anyone. Let’s check it out:
About Course Hero: Your Learning Buddy
Course Hero is a company that helps people learn. They’re in California and have been doing this since 2006. Lots of students, around one in 20, use Course Hero. They’ve got a big community, including over a million students who pay to use their service and more than 20,000 teachers who share their knowledge.
Not a Scam, Just a Learning Tool
Is Course Hero trying to scam you? Nope! It’s a tool for learning, and it does what it says it will do. For the past 13 years, Course Hero has been helping students with their studies. They have many study materials, and tutors are ready to help 24/7. You can even check out their Instagram to see more about who they are and what they offer.
You can look around the site if you’re curious and want to see what they have before signing up. It’s all legit!
Is Course Hero Free Or Paid?
Course Hero has two types of memberships: Basic (free) and Premier (paid). With a free Basic membership, you can ask questions and get homework help, look at literature infographics, and browse study materials. While you can’t fully view or download documents, you can earn full access by contributing your study materials.
If you upgrade to Premier, you get all the Basic benefits plus more. Premier members can unlock 30 documents each month, ask up to 40 questions to tutors, and enjoy 24/7 homework help from expert tutors. You also get access to a library with over 25 million study resources and unlimited access to step-by-step solutions for textbook questions verified by educators.
How Does Course Hero Work?
Course Hero is like a superhero for students, with over 20 million study documents to help you rock your classes. Let’s find out how it works:
Step 1: Get Your Superhero Account
First, you need a Course Hero account. It’s free and takes just a minute. You can use your Facebook, Google, or email to sign up.
Step 2: Add Your Classes
Log in and add the classes you’re taking on your dashboard. Now, all the cool resources for your lessons are in one place.
Step 3: Share to Get Unlocks
Course Hero loves it when you share your notes. You earn free unlocks to access more stuff. You can also get unlocks by rating documents. If you don’t want to share, you can subscribe.
Step 4: Dive into the Treasure Trove
Now, you have access to over 20 million study resources! Find notes from students who took your classes, teacher guides, videos, and more. Save what you like for later.
Step 5: Practice Like a Pro
Want to be a study superhero? Try Practice Problems! It’s like a fun game that helps you understand your lessons better. Guess what? It’s free!
Step 6: Ask Their Hero Tutors
Stuck on a tough question? No worries! Tutors are like study superheroes, available 24/7 to help you. You can earn their help by sharing notes or subscribing.
Step 7: College Life Tips and Tricks
Course Hero’s College Life is like a guidebook for being a superhero student. It has awesome tips for studying and balancing school life.
So, there you go! Course Hero is your study sidekick, ready to help you ace your classes and be a superhero student!
Why Use Course Hero – Is It Safe?
Yep, Course Hero takes your privacy seriously! They won’t tell anyone about your stuff, like your credit card details, phone number, or if you’re using their website. It’s all private. If you want more information, you can check out their Privacy Policy.
It’s Super Helpful
Ever miss a class and need notes? Or a lesson confused you, and you want a better explanation. Course Hero can help with all that! They’ve got notes, answers, and even practice tests. Is it worth it? Totally! You can also use it to check out what classes you want to take next semester. Bonus: You can apply for a chance to win $5,000 in scholarships every month! Cool, right?
Alternate Options To Course Hero
If you need help with your school stuff, here are some alternate options to Course Hero:
Quizlet: The Study Sidekick
Quizlet is like having a smart friend to help you study. It’s free and has flashcards and games to make learning fun.
Chegg: The Homework Hero
Chegg is like a superhero for homework. It helps with tough questions, gives tutoring, and even lets you rent textbooks.
Studypool: The Question Answerer
Studypool is like a place where you can ask questions and get answers from super smart people. You post your question, and experts will help you out.
StudyDaddy: The Homework Buddy
StudyDaddy is like a buddy who knows everything about homework. They have expert tutors ready to help you with any subject, at any time. You’re guaranteed to get a great answer!
Coursera: The Online School Friend
Coursera is like a friend who knows a lot about everything. It has courses from really cool universities all over the world. You can learn online and even get certificates for doing a great job!
BYJU’S: The Learning Explorer
BYJU is like an explorer helping you learn new things. It has courses for all ages, from little kids to big kids. You can use it on your computer or with its app.
Simplilearn: The Skill Builder
Simplilearn is like a builder helping you learn new skills. It has courses in things like digital marketing and data science. Experts teach you cool stuff to make you even smarter!
Blackboard: The School Organizer
Blackboard is like an organizer for your school stuff. Many big schools use it. Teachers use it to share things with you, and you can use it to do your assignments.
Schoology: The Class Buddy
Schoology is like having a buddy for your school class. It helps teachers and students share things and do classwork online. It’s like a big helper for everyone in the class!
So, these are your homework helpers! Pick the one that sounds the most fun or helpful for you.
Wrap Up
In the wrap, the Course Hero layoffs are a big change for the company, but they’re doing it to make sure they can grow and help even more students in the future. It might feel sad, but sometimes changes are like planting seeds for a bigger, better garden. Let’s cheer for Course Hero as they go through this journey and hope for even more exciting things ahead!
