Trust & safety
What Luminao checks, and what it doesn’t.
Who the mentors are, who sees what, where your money sits, and how to reach a person.
What “verified” means
“Verified college student” is the only credential label on Luminao.
- Verified college student
- Profile reviewed by Luminao
How it shows on a mentor’s profile.
Mentors sign up with their college email and confirm it with a one-time code sent to that inbox.
Luminao reviews every profile before it goes live.
Someone on our team reads each new profile before students can find it.
We don’t run background checks.
In college yourself? Become a mentor
Who sees what
Who sees what- Your essays
- Only the mentors you share them with.
- Your profile
- Anyone signed in with a college .edu email can see your first name and last initial, class year, intended major, target colleges and GPA range. Mentors you book also see your high school and the scores you add.
- Your email
- Never shown to mentors.
- Video calls
- In Luminao’s own video room. Not recorded.
- Your data
- We don’t sell personal information.
Your payment waits
- Essay edits
- Held until your mentor delivers your edit. Not delivered within 3 days? Automatic full refund.
- Video calls
- Luminao holds your payment and releases it to your mentor only after your session.
- Price
- Nothing over $60. The price you see is the full price, with no added fees.
- Your card
- Handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number.
Keep it on Luminao
Calls happen in Luminao’s own video room. Keep chats and payments on Luminao.
A student sends a number
Easier to text? I’m at (555) 014-2290
This looks like a phone number.
Sharing contact details takes this chat off Luminao, where we can’t protect you or your payment.
A mentor sends a number
Text me at (555) 017-4418 instead
Phone numbers can’t be sent to students on Luminao. Remove it to send.
- Contact details can’t be sent to students.
- Flagged messages go to the Luminao team.
Report this message
This goes to the Luminao team. The author isn’t told who reported it.
- Asked me to talk or pay outside Luminao
- Offered to write my essay
- Harassment or made me uncomfortable
- Spam or scam
- Shares personal or contact info
- Promises admission results
- Someone may be in danger
- Something else
- Also block this person
- Report a message, a person or a profile.
- Blocked people can’t message you or send you requests.
Something feels wrong? Email us.
A person reads every report, and we can suspend an account.
The community
Questions and answers in the community are public. Anyone can read them, and search engines can find them.
- Who wrote it
- Every post shows whether its writer is a student or a college student. Questions Luminao posts itself are labeled Luminao.
- Your handle
- Posts show a random handle unless you choose to show your name. It hides you from other people, not from Luminao.
- Essays
- Ask for feedback, never for someone to write it. Offers to write essays or sell services are removed.
- Reports
- Report any post or comment. A person reads every report, and we remove posts and suspend accounts that break the rules.
- Hard moments
- If a post sounds like someone is struggling, it stays up, the writer is shown crisis resources (call or text 988), and our team is alerted.
Our limits, in plain words
Find a mentor- We don’t promise admission results.
- Mentors give feedback. They never write your essay.
- Every suggestion is labeled “Mentor suggestion”, and Luminao uses no AI on essays.