Terms and Conditions
Last updated: September 3, 2026
Welcome to Write With Dr. Leslie, a Hawaiʻi-based practice providing online tutoring, writing coaching, and admissions essay coaching. These Terms and Conditions apply to the Write With Dr. Leslie website and to educational services provided by Leslie Akst, Ph.D. (“I,” “me,” or “the Practice”).
By scheduling a session, purchasing a package, or using my services, the client agrees to these terms. If the student is under 18, a parent or legal guardian must schedule or authorize the services and accept these terms on the student’s behalf.
1. Services Provided
I provide one-on-one educational support in the following areas:
College and graduate admissions essays
English language arts tutoring
High school and college academic writing
Individual writing development
Admissions essay coaching is limited to personal statements, supplemental essays, statements of purpose, and related writing. I do not provide college selection, college list development, general admissions counseling, financial aid or FAFSA guidance, career counseling, or standardized test preparation.
The specific service, package, schedule, and materials covered will be confirmed before coaching begins.
2. Authentic Student Work and Academic Integrity
My services are instructional and collaborative. I help students brainstorm, organize ideas, develop arguments, understand feedback, and revise their own work.
I do not write, ghostwrite, or complete academic assignments or admissions essays for students. I also do not guarantee that a particular use of outside assistance will comply with every school, college, or application platform’s policies.
Students and clients are responsible for ensuring that submitted work:
Represents the student’s own ideas and effort
Complies with the applicable school or institution’s academic integrity policies
Follows all admissions, course, and assignment requirements
Properly acknowledges sources and permitted assistance when required
I may decline or discontinue work that I reasonably believe would involve academic dishonesty or misrepresentation.
3. Rates, Payments & Kamaʻāina Discounts
Standard rates for coaching and tutoring services are listed on the website. Special local rates (Kamaʻāina rates) are reserved exclusively for verified residents of the State of Hawaii. Write With Dr. Leslie reserves the right to verify Hawaii residency prior to applying local discounts to an invoice or service agreement. Discounted rates cannot be applied retroactively to previously billed sessions.
4. Student Privacy and Confidentiality
I take reasonable steps to protect student writing, personal information, academic information, and session discussions.
Student work will not be published, sold, used as a testimonial, or intentionally shared for promotional purposes without written permission from the student and, when the student is a minor, the student’s parent or legal guardian.
Information may be shared when reasonably necessary:
To use agreed-upon services such as email, video conferencing, shared-document, scheduling, or payment platforms
With a parent or legal guardian responsible for a minor student
When required by law, court order, or another valid legal process
When I reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to respond to an immediate safety concern
When there is reasonable cause to suspect the abuse or neglect of a child
Although I use reasonable care, no email, online document, video platform, or other internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely private or secure.
5. Students Under 18
A parent or legal guardian must authorize services for a student under 18 and is responsible for payment, scheduling, and compliance with these terms.
Parents and guardians are generally asked to provide the student with a quiet setting for online sessions so that the student can participate independently. Parent participation may be arranged when appropriate and agreed upon in advance.
Administrative questions, billing matters, and parent progress updates should ordinarily take place outside the student’s scheduled session time.
Parents or legal guardians must arrange services for a child under 13 directly. A child under 13 should not independently submit personal information, schedule a session, make a payment, or create an account through the website.
6. Student and Client Conduct
Students, parents, guardians, and other clients are expected to communicate respectfully and participate in a manner that supports a safe and productive learning environment.
Harassment, threats, discriminatory or abusive language, academic dishonesty, repeated disruption, or other seriously inappropriate conduct will not be accepted.
I may end a session immediately if a student or client engages in behavior that makes it unreasonable or unsafe to continue. The session during which the conduct occurs may be charged in full.
Repeated or serious violations may result in termination of the coaching relationship. If I terminate a prepaid package, the client will be charged for sessions already provided, work already completed, and any applicable late-cancellation fee. Any remaining prepaid balance will be refunded.
7. Scheduling and Attendance
Sessions are scheduled by mutual agreement and are not confirmed until the required payment has been received.
Students should arrive on time with the assignment prompt, draft, reading, or other materials needed for the session. When advance review is included, materials must be submitted by the agreed-upon deadline.
If a student arrives late, the session will still end at its originally scheduled time. Time lost because of late arrival cannot ordinarily be extended or made up.
If technical problems on my end substantially prevent a session from taking place, I will offer a rescheduled session or an appropriate refund or credit.
8. Cancellations and Rescheduling
A client may cancel or reschedule a session by providing written notice at least 24 hours before the scheduled start time.
A session canceled with less than 24 hours’ notice will ordinarily be charged in full and will not be refunded or restored to a package. Genuine emergencies may be considered individually.
If I need to cancel a session, the client may choose to reschedule it or receive a refund or credit for that session.
9. Fees and Payment
Payment for an individual session is due at the time of booking. Payment for a package is due before the first scheduled session. For packages of $650 or more, a two-payment option may be available upon request.
Sessions are confirmed once payment has been received.
Payments are accepted through the payment methods listed on the website or invoice, which may include Zelle, PayPal, and Venmo. Clients are responsible for ensuring that payment information is accurate and that payment is submitted by the stated deadline.
Prices and services may change in the future. A price change will not affect a session or package already purchased and confirmed.
10. Packages and Written Reviews
Packages cover only the number of sessions, documents, review rounds, and services described at the time of purchase.
Unless otherwise stated:
Additional sessions are charged separately.
Additional essays, unusually long documents, or additional review rounds may require an additional fee.
Written reviews must be submitted and completed within the package period.
A written review does not include unlimited revisions or ongoing access between sessions.
Package sessions must be used within six months of purchase unless a different written arrangement is made. The client is responsible for scheduling sessions with enough time to use the package before it expires. Reasonable extensions may be considered for illness, emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances.
11. Refunds
Completed sessions and written reviews already provided are nonrefundable.
If a client chooses to discontinue a package, any refund will be calculated by subtracting:
Sessions already completed, valued at the standard individual-session rate
Written reviews or other services already completed
Any applicable late-cancellation charges
I will refund any remaining prepaid balance, if any.
No refund will be provided solely because a student is dissatisfied with a grade, admissions result, instructor response, or another outcome outside my control.
12. No Guarantee of Results
I will provide thoughtful, individualized instruction and feedback, but I cannot guarantee a particular:
Grade or course outcome
School or program admission
Scholarship or financial award
Test score
Teacher or admissions-reader response
Level or speed of improvement
Results depend on many factors, including the student’s preparation, participation, effort, revision, deadlines, and institutional decisions.
13. Ownership of Writing and Instructional Materials
Students retain ownership of their original essays, assignments, ideas, and other writing.
Original worksheets, exercises, lesson plans, guides, frameworks, website content, and other instructional materials created by Leslie Akst, Ph.D. or Write With Dr. Leslie remain the property of the Practice.
Clients may use these materials for their own personal educational purposes. They may not reproduce, publish, sell, distribute, post online, or use the materials commercially without prior written permission.
14. Website Information and Third-Party Services
Website content is provided for general informational purposes. I make reasonable efforts to keep service descriptions and prices accurate, but the details confirmed in writing at the time of booking will govern the specific engagement.
Sessions and communications may involve third-party services such as video conferencing, shared documents, scheduling platforms, email, and payment processors. Use of those services may also be governed by their own terms and privacy policies.
Links to third-party websites are provided for convenience and do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of their content, availability, or practices.
15. Limitation of Liability
To the extent permitted by applicable law, Write With Dr. Leslie and Leslie Akst, Ph.D. will not be responsible for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential losses arising from the use of the website or educational services.
Nothing in these terms is intended to exclude or limit a right or responsibility that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
16. Location and Applicable Law
Write With Dr. Leslie is based in the State of Hawaiʻi and provides services primarily online. These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of the State of Hawaiʻi, without limiting any consumer rights that cannot lawfully be waived under the laws applicable to the client.
Clients who participate from another state or jurisdiction are responsible for ensuring that their use of the services complies with any requirements that apply to them locally.
17. Changes to These Terms
I may update these Terms and Conditions from time to time. The current version and its effective date will be posted on the website.
Changes will apply prospectively and will not alter the material terms of a package that has already been purchased unless the client agrees to the change or the change is required by law.
18. Contact
If you have questions regarding these Terms & Conditions, please reach out via email at writewithdrleslie@gmail.com or via the contact form on writewithdrleslie.com.