Parents5 min read
Twelve questions to ask any programme before you pay
Copy these, send them, and read what comes back. A programme worth joining answers all twelve in a few lines. How long the reply takes tells you something too.
If you are deciding whether to let your child join a paid online programme, you do not need to become an expert in the field. You need twelve answers.
Send them as a single message. A programme that is run properly will answer all of them in a few lines each, because somebody there already knows. One that cannot will either go quiet, answer a different question, or reply with a brochure — and each of those is itself an answer.
The twelve
- What is the total cost, including anything charged later?
- What exactly does my child do in week one, and in the last week?
- Who marks the work, and what does my child receive back?
- How many hours a week should we plan for, honestly?
- Are the live sessions recorded, and for how long are they available?
- What does the certificate say on its face, word for word?
- Can a stranger verify that certificate without an account? Show me.
- What happens if my child falls ill or has exams in week four?
- What is the refund policy, and by when?
- What personal data do you collect, and for how long do you keep it?
- Who is the registered organisation behind this, and where?
- *What do you not promise?*
That last one is the most revealing question on the list. It is hard to answer defensively and almost impossible to answer with marketing language.
How to read the replies
A number that moves is the main thing to watch. If the cost in the reply does not match the cost on the website, stop there. The same goes for duration.
"It depends" about hours is reasonable. "It depends" about money is not.
Watch for urgency that has no source. A real deadline has a reason attached — a cohort starts on a date, so applications close before it. "Only today" with no reason is a sales technique, and it is one that works best on people who are already anxious.
A refusal to put something in writing is the answer. Anything a programme will say on a call but not in an email is something it does not want on record.
Our own answers
So you can see what a complete set looks like, here are ours. Every one of these is also stated elsewhere on this site, which is the point — you should be able to check an answer against the page rather than take the answer's word for it.
| Question | Our answer |
|---|---|
| Total cost | ₹250 for the whole eight weeks. Nothing further, at any point. |
| Week one | Orientation, tools, and a first submission. Published on each track page before you apply. |
| Final week | A capstone you build and submit, which is also the week you must complete to earn the certificate. |
| Who marks it | A reviewer, in writing, before the next Sunday session. |
| Hours a week | Eight to ten, including the live session. |
| Live sessions | Sundays 11:30 am IST, recorded. |
| Certificate wording | A certificate of completion of a supervised programme. Not employment, not an academic qualification. |
| Verification | A public page, no account needed. The code is printed on the certificate. |
| Illness or exams | Tell us before the deadline, not after. We can usually do something; afterwards is much harder. |
| Refund | Full refund if you ask before the week 2 session. None after, because the programme has been delivered. No reason needed. |
| Data | Name, email, phone, school or college, city, date of birth, the work submitted, and payment records. Kept three years; payment and certificate evidence eight, because accounting law requires it. |
| What we do not promise | A job, a placement, a stipend, an interview, or any introduction to an employer. |
One thing worth knowing about the fee
A small fee is often doing a job that has nothing to do with revenue. When a programme is free, a large share of people enrol and then never start, which wrecks a cohort that depends on people turning up for each other. A fee small enough not to exclude anyone, but large enough to be a decision, fixes that.
Which is also why, if the fee is the obstacle rather than the decision, it should be waivable without a form and without proof. Ask whether it is. We hold waived places in every cohort and you do not have to document anything to ask for one.
If you are not sure
Ask the programme for the contact details of somebody who completed it, and write to them rather than to the programme. A new organisation may genuinely not have anyone yet — that is a fair answer and a real limitation. An established one that will not put you in touch with a single past participant has told you something.
And if you would rather ask us than read any more of our own website, write to us. A person replies.
In short
- What should a parent ask before paying for an online internship?
- The total cost including anything charged later, what the student actually does each week, who marks the work and what comes back, the honest weekly hours, the exact wording on the certificate, how a stranger verifies it, the refund policy and deadline, what data is collected and kept, who the registered organisation is, and — most revealing of all — what the programme does not promise.
- Is it normal for an internship programme to charge a fee?
- It is common, and a small fee often does a job unrelated to revenue: when a programme is free, many people enrol and never start, which damages a cohort that depends on people turning up. What matters is that the full amount is stated in writing up front, that nothing further is charged later, and that the fee can be waived if it is a genuine obstacle.
Still not sure?
Write to hello@d360.pgnr.in and ask whatever the awkward question is. A person replies within two working days, and we would rather answer it than have you guess — in either direction.