Non-medical companionship · Manhattan, Brooklyn & Queens
Give yourself peace of mind while your loved one stays curious, out in the city and genuinely engaged. We match our clients with vetted university students — pre-med, nursing, psychology, public health — for standing visits with the same familiar face. Museums, errands, appointments, they're there for you or your loved one.
The consultation and the matching are free, and your first hour is on us. After that it's $60 an hour, three-hour minimum, billed weekly after visits — no retainer and no monthly fee.
Public Health, Fordham · Junior
Interviewed in person · CPR/AED certified
One four-hour visit, most weeks
4 hours × $60 = $240 for the afternoon, billed after the visit. Nothing owed the weeks you skip.
Someone to go with
Plenty of older New Yorkers would happily go to a matinee, a museum or a lecture. They just don't want to go alone. A scholar helps make the plan, makes the trip with them and turns it into an afternoon worth talking about.
The trip there and back, a familiar face in the next seat, and someone to talk it over with at intermission.
An hour at the Met or the Frick at their own pace, with coffee after.
Drawing, a language, a talk at the library. It's easier to walk in with someone.
The park, the farmers market, the bookstore they used to love.
What we do
The aim is good company and an afternoon worth having — often one that means getting out of the apartment for a while. Beyond that we're a non-medical service by design: our scholars are bright, warm and reliable; they are not home health aides, and we never blur that line.
On any visit, at no extra charge.
Some need a licensed agency; some we simply don't do. Ask and we'll happily refer you.
ScholarConnections LLC is not a licensed home care services agency and does not provide skilled nursing, personal care or medical services of any kind.
The people who show up
Every scholar is an active student at a New York university on a clinical or care-adjacent track, chosen as much for warmth as for experience, and met face to face before we place them. We hire students on purpose — they bring a curiosity and energy that makes the afternoon something to look forward to rather than a chore to be completed. You meet your match before anything is booked, and you keep the same person — we don't rotate staff.
"Some of my best afternoons growing up were spent playing cards with my grandfather and listening to his stories."
We're a new service, and we add scholars one careful interview at a time. Tell us what your parent enjoys and we'll introduce you to the right person before anything is booked.
Vetting
You are letting someone new into you or your loved one's home. We have never placed a scholar we haven't sat across a table from, and we'll show you the file on your scholar if you'd like to see it.
No one is placed on the strength of a résumé and a video call. We sit down with every candidate in person to judge warmth, patience and social poise — the things a transcript can't show and a screen can obscure.
Multi-state criminal database, county-level records for prior addresses, national sex offender registry, and identity verification. Re-run annually for every active scholar.
We call three academic and professional references by phone, and confirm current enrollment directly with the university. Then a supervised shadow visit before anyone works alone.
Background checks are re-run every year, and any placed scholar must tell us of an arrest within 24 hours as a condition of their agreement. Vetting is not a one-time box we tick at hiring.
How it works
Request a match here or by phone, then talk it through with our team. No fees, no card and no commitment at this stage — we'll tell you honestly if we're not the right fit.
We write a short Companion Plan around your loved one: their interests, what they'd like more of, and New York outings picked for them. Then we hand-select a scholar to match and send you their profile to approve.
Once you've approved your scholar, you sign the visit agreement online. That confirms the registration and holds your scholar's standing slot. Visits are billed weekly afterwards, only for the hours that actually happened. Sign the agreement
Your scholar arrives on the agreed day and you get a written note the same evening. Keep the standing slot, change it, or stop — the schedule is always yours to set.
Pricing
No retainer, no membership, no monthly minimum. Consultation and matching are free, the first hour of your first visit is on us, and after that you're billed weekly for visits that took place — nothing on the weeks you don't book.
Set a visit length and how often, and we'll do the math.
Monthly figures assume about 4.3 weeks and are an estimate only — you're billed after visits take place, so a month with a vacation in it simply costs less. Visits run three hours or longer; we don't book one-hour drop-ins, because they aren't long enough to be worth anyone's afternoon. Your written service agreement governs actual billing.
The smallest commitment we offer, and the only one we recommend making at the start.
Three hours at $60, with the first hour free. $180 $120 — billed after the visit.
Questions
That's a job for a licensed home care agency rather than a companion service — hands-on personal care and anything involving medication both require one in New York. Our scholars stay out of medication entirely, so there's no grey area about what was or wasn't prompted.
Just mention it when you get in touch and we'll introduce you to an agency we trust, at no cost. Plenty of households use both: an aide for personal care, a scholar for company.
Often, yes — companionship and routine engagement matter a great deal in early stages, and some of our scholars have dementia-aware communication training. We'll tell you honestly when you get in touch if we think the fit is right.
What we cannot provide is supervision for someone who can't safely be left with a non-medical companion. That's a clinical judgment a physician should make, not us.
All of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. We're expanding as the roster grows, so if you're just outside those areas, ask anyway — travel time is often workable for a longer visit.
By meeting them. A transcript tells us someone is capable; it says nothing about whether they can hold a conversation with an eighty-eight-year-old for three hours without checking their phone. So every candidate sits down with us in person, and we watch for the things a video call flatters — warmth, patience, listening, poise, how they handle being interrupted or corrected.
Candidates who clear that go on a supervised shadow visit before they're ever placed alone. It's the slowest part of our process and the part we'd least like to skip.
A nationwide multi-state criminal database search, county-level courthouse records for prior addresses, the national sex offender registry, and identity verification. We confirm current enrollment with the university and call three references by phone. Screening also includes a full in-person interview and a supervised shadow visit.
Checks are re-run annually, and any placed scholar must notify us of an arrest within 24 hours as a condition of their agreement. If you'd like to see the completed file for the scholar matched to your household, ask your coordinator and we'll send it.
Credentials vary from scholar to scholar. Some hold current CPR/AED certification, some carry EMT or CNA training, and some hold neither — we'll tell you exactly what your matched scholar holds before you book.
What every scholar has in common is the vetting: nationwide background checks, an in-person interview, verified references and a supervised shadow visit. In an emergency, each one is trained to call 911 first and you second.
Really none. The consultation and the matching are free, and nothing is owed while you're reviewing scholar profiles. Once you've approved a scholar, you sign the visit agreement online — that's what confirms your registration and holds the scholar's slot. Nothing is charged at that point.
New families get the first hour of their first visit free. After that it's simply $60 an hour with a three-hour minimum, invoiced weekly for the visits that took place. No retainer, no membership, no monthly fee. Cancel or reschedule free with at least 24 hours' notice and nothing is billed; inside 24 hours the three-hour minimum is kept, because the scholar has already held the afternoon.
No — you're billed after the visits, never before. At the end of each week you get an invoice by email for the visits that actually took place, which you can pay online — or save a card and have later invoices paid automatically.
What holds your scholar's standing slot is the signed agreement, not an advance payment. Our scholars are students keeping the same afternoon free for you each week, and the agreement is how we can promise the same person on the same day. If the first visit doesn't go well, tell us and we'll find you someone better suited.
We re-match, at no cost and without a difficult conversation. You approve every scholar before anything is paid, so a mismatch usually surfaces at the profile stage rather than in someone's living room. If it slips through anyway, tell your coordinator what was off and we'll present new profiles until we get it right, at no extra cost. Chemistry is the whole point — a scholar no one enjoys talking to is worth nothing to you.
After the consultation we write a short plan around your loved one: what they enjoy, what they'd like more of in their week, and specific New York outings, classes and activities we think suit them. Their scholar uses it from the first visit, and we update it as we learn what they love.
Scholars commit to a full academic term at minimum, and we plan winter and summer breaks with you six weeks ahead. Many stay in the city and keep their day. When they don't, we introduce a covering scholar in advance so the handover happens with an introduction rather than a surprise. You are never told about a change the week it happens.
Get in touch
Tell us a little and a coordinator will call you back — expect a reply within one business day.
Four fields is all we need to call you back. The consultation and the matching are free — nothing is owed unless you approve the scholar we propose.
Need someone at short notice? Request a cover visit
Are you a university student looking for paid work?
Apply to become a scholar
For professionals
Much of our work comes from people who see the gap before the family does — the client who is medically fine and desperately bored. We'll take a call from you any time, and we'll tell you honestly when a client isn't right for us.
With the family's permission, we'll copy you on visit notes, so you have another set of eyes between your own visits.
Email partners@scholarconnectionsnyc.com Run a senior community? See Tech HoursStart with a free consultation and a scholar we've chosen for them. Nothing is owed until you've seen the match and said yes.
ScholarConnections LLC is a non-medical companion and concierge service. This page describes precisely what our scholars are authorized to do, and what they are prohibited from doing under any circumstances.
Scholars hold different credentials. Some hold current CPR/AED certification, some hold EMT or CNA training, and some hold neither. No scholar may perform a task outside the scope above regardless of what credentials they personally hold. We disclose the credentials of your matched scholar before any visit is booked.
If the care you or your loved one needs falls outside this scope, tell us. We maintain relationships with licensed home care agencies in New York City and will make an introduction at no cost. Many households use a licensed aide for personal care and a ScholarConnections scholar for company — the two work well side by side.
Scholars are trained to call 911 first and the family contact second in any emergency. Companion services are not a substitute for emergency medical care.
Companion visits are billed at $60 per hour. There is no retainer, membership fee, monthly minimum or enrollment charge of any kind.
All visits are booked in blocks of three consecutive hours or more. The minimum charge for any visit is therefore $180. We do not schedule shorter visits.
For new families, the first hour of the first visit is provided at no charge, so a first visit of three hours is billed at $120. The offer applies once per family.
The initial consultation and the matching process are provided at no charge. No payment method is requested and no fee is incurred while you review the scholar profiles we present. You are free to decline every profile and owe nothing.
Once you approve a scholar match, you sign the visit agreement online through this website. The signed agreement confirms your registration and reserves the scholar's schedule. Visits are invoiced weekly in arrears, by email, for the visits that took place in the preceding week, and each invoice is due within seven days. You may save a payment method so that invoices are paid automatically.
Any visit may be cancelled or rescheduled with at least 24 hours' notice and is not billed. Inside 24 hours, the three-hour minimum is retained, because the scholar has already reserved the time. There is no contract and no notice period — simply stop scheduling.
Tell your coordinator within 48 hours of a visit and we will propose a different scholar at no additional cost, for as many rounds as it takes. Visits already completed are not refunded.
Rates and terms shown on this website are for planning purposes. The written service agreement signed by the client governs all rates, minimums, invoicing and cancellation terms.
We collect only the information you submit through the forms on this site and the information you share with a coordinator. We use it to evaluate fit, propose a match and deliver visits.
Background check results, references and academic verification are stored securely and shared only with the client household matched to that scholar, on request.
Write to coordinator@scholarconnectionsnyc.com at any time to request a copy of the information we hold about you, or to ask us to delete it.