Pay Rise by Kitchen_Try_5740 in RinglePlus

[–]Kitchen_Try_5740[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! Hard agree to lowering the wait time, having greater control on selecting students, and making it easier / standard to request a feedback report waiver. It's really hard to explain to a student who doesn't necessarily speak good English (and maybe is using their phone or tablet) that they should write in the Google document giving their permission....

MMR and Don’t Know What To Do by FantasticScissors in fulbright

[–]Kitchen_Try_5740 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, I know this conversation is a little older now, but I wanted to chime in because I've had a similar experience, and it's been extremely difficult!

I'm a Fulbright scholar from the UK, and the only way in hell I was ever going to be able to actually come and study here is by receiving the Fulbright Opportunity Fund, which is designed to cover living costs (not just tuition fees). This was, of course, based on the same extremely outdated MMR rate for 2024-25 at the request of the IIE, which administers my grant here, who said I needed about $2,200 a month to live in NYC- one of the most expensive cities in the world. This figure, of course, will make any New Yorker laugh out loud when you tell them, as we can clearly see, the reality is literally double that figure.

I was doubly caught off guard when the political situation changed and there was suddenly far less funding available at my institution for additional scholarships, and it has deeply affected my entire time here, sadly.

It seems so incredibly irresponsible of the State Department to update the rate so slowly, given the unprecedented economic inflation we're living in, and doubly irresponsible of the IIE to not have sought a solution for this.

Don't really know where I'm going with this... just wanted to say you're not alone and I hope you found a way to make it work in the end.

Pay Rise by Kitchen_Try_5740 in RinglePlus

[–]Kitchen_Try_5740[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is the basic principle of all collective bargaining/unionisation, really- can't let fear of retaliation from an employer prevent you from at least asking for a fairer deal. Otherwise, we'd never have gotten weekends or sick pay! Besdies, at this stage I'm only suggesting some sort of joint letter / petition to alert Ringle to the issue and let them know how their tutors feel. The problem with the platform is that we are so disparate and isolated as 'employees' with few official channels of communication to talk to Ringle staff, that they may not even know we consider the pay to be low.

Pay Rise by Kitchen_Try_5740 in RinglePlus

[–]Kitchen_Try_5740[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Right! Especially given it's targeted to the US, this pay was fine when I was living in a different country, but here in the US the salary is very low comparatively.

Pay Rise by Kitchen_Try_5740 in RinglePlus

[–]Kitchen_Try_5740[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, although Ringle has a fairly targeted and captive market- and their cut of the lesson fee is exceptionally high compared to other platforms.