Nationwide company doing homework for students

What would the point be to have the students cheat in the first place? Again, to alleviate stress.” That was a statement written by Tramiah Montgomery, founder of a company called The Write Choice, in a chat conversation with The Utah Statesman.

Just earlier this year, The Write Choice had mailed a flyer to Utah State University, advertising in large, white letters: “We do homework for college students!”

The company also advertised that they “offer” research papers, admission and scholarship essays, discussion boards, projects, tests and quizzes, proctored assignments, entire online courses, resumes, cover letters — and more.

Shari Peterson, the USU Testing Center manager, said this isn’t the first company to offer these types of services.

“I think there is a great appeal for information right now,” Peterson said. “We have this high expectation, we as humans right now, to be able to have a question and get answers immediately.”

The Write Choice was legally filed in July of 2022 in the state of Georgia under the name of Tramiah Montgomery.

To get more information regarding the company, the Statesman called Montgomery. After a few minutes, Montgomery said she only did chat interviews and quickly hung up. The entirety of her statements were made via the company’s online chat service.

Montgomery wrote she started the company to “help college students get a break.”

“College forces students to take classes that are not relevant to their future field, all for financial gain. We help alleviate the unnecessary stress,” Montgomery wrote.

Montgomery cited circumstances such as a “failing economy,” stressful jobs, family situations and mental health to explain why students may need a break and, as a result, use her service.

“We’re becoming a lazy society; we’re just not willing to research. The intent of these companies isn’t nefarious in of themselves in terms of where they began, but they’ve become so,” Peterson said.

Hailey Johnson, a junior majoring in psychology who tutors at the USU Writing Center, said many students may lose motivation due to “busywork” assignments in classes they don’t care about.

“A lot of people in college are just trying to get the piece of paper and not really the depth of knowledge,” Johnson said.

Peterson agreed, saying while those resources could alleviate stress, it was also important to consider laziness.

“It hurts them; they don’t have those skills that they should be gaining in college. They’re losing that,” Peterson said. “The ethical and moral dilemma is, who are we training up to be our doctors and our lawyers and our builders?”

The Write Choice covers all subjects, Montgomery wrote, including Ph.D. and master’s work, although they do not offer to take students’ medical or professional entrance exams.

Krystin Deschamps, director of Student Conduct and Community Standards, said the best way students could discourage their peers from engaging with the service was to have them imagine its long-term impact.

“If you leave USU not really knowing how to write a paper, or how to write a computer code, or how to think critically, it will catch up to you when you sit in front of your boss with poor work,” Deschamps wrote in an email to the Statesman.

According to the company’s website, The Write Choice charges $20 per page if the assignment is submitted ten days before the deadline. If students ask for a “same day delivery,” they charge $40 per page.

When the students order their assignment, they must also pay a 50% non refundable security deposit, the website said.

“You’re paying to be here. Why pay somebody to do your homework?” Johnson said.

Montgomery said over a dozen USU students were using her services, and that her Utah customer base had skyrocketed to over 100 students after KSL.com wrote about the company.

She would not name any of the students paying for her company’s work, citing her clients’ confidentiality.

If they did find out a student was using these services, Deschamps encouraged professors to fill out an “Academic Integrity Violation Form,” as plagiarism is a violation of Student Code Article VI. Ultimately, the instructor would have to determine if the Code has been violated.

“In all cases of academic misconduct, there is a course sanction, determined by the instructor (i.e., a lower grade, a requirement to retake/redo the assignment, etc.), and a University sanction, such as probation, suspension, or expulsion,” Deschamps wrote.

To report a student to the Office of Student Conduct if they’re suspected of cheating, Deschamps said the office would need to know the student’s name and class. At the very least, the student would face academic probation and a transcript notation, she added.

“If you get caught now, you will have a Conduct record for at least a year,” Deschamps wrote. “It’s just a lot better to try and struggle and learn now, than it is to cheat and have it catch up with you.”

Montgomery wrote they haven’t had issues between students and their university policies while the company has operated.

“Students know their own school policy. When you get on public transportation, the risk is on you,” Montgomery wrote. “Just like any other business, whatever risk that applies to the student, would be on them.”

While students may be risking probation, suspension or expulsion to get work done from The Write Choice, Montgomery noted how she does not worry about her own business.

“I don’t have to uphold policies for universities I do not attend,” Montgomery wrote. “What does the student agreeing to policies have to do with me (who is not part of the organization)?”

When the Statesman asked Montgomery about the possibility of running into legal trouble with universities or students, she said her company was not breaking the law.

“A policy or regulation within a university is not a law, nor does it hold legal weight,” Montgomery wrote.

Whether the company gets into legal trouble or not, she said their influence is widespread — with Montgomery adding that her business was “lucrative enough” to send flyers to universities across all fifty states.

Neither Montgomery nor the website specified the salaries of the company’s and researchers Peterson said she hoped regardless of how attractive the resource was, students needed to consider the importance behind university learning.

“I really hope that the USU students take a step back and ask themselves, ‘Why am I here?’” Peterson said. “To just get that piece of paper that says, ‘You deserve more money’ — or actually educate your mind, and have the work ethic to gain the knowledge for yourself?”