StudentofFortune.com made front-page news in today’s issue of USC’s Daily Trojan newspaper.
A brief snippet:
Website offers homework help - at a price
Users place bids to answer questions at Student of Fortune. Some say services border on cheating.
Auction websites have been known to offer everything from designer bags to alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary on a slice of toast, but one new site’s product is of high demand to college students: homework help. . . .
The website, which functions like a cross between eBay and Yahoo! Answers, allows students to submit questions and place a “bounty” ranging from 25 cents to a few dollars for a correct answer.
Unlike some tutoring websites, the profits go directly to the person who submitted the answer, not hired tutors. . . .
USC Student Judicial Affairs officials believe Student of Fortune’s intentions are not a blatant threat to academic integrity.
“If (students’) purpose was having someone else do their work, that would be viewed as a violation,” said Raquel Torres-Retana, director of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards. “But if people are using it as a tutor, then it’s a tutor. It’s the same online as it would be getting help at your neighbors apartment.”
You can see the whole article on the Daily Trojan website.