Eloquent model inheritance hierarchy - laravel

Question

I have a case where 2 eloquent models should inherit properties from a User model, but the User itself should not exist as a standalone instance. (Mentors and Students, both inherit from User class). So what I'm currently doing is:
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;
abstract class User extends Authenticatable
{
use Notifiable;
/**
* The attributes that are mass assignable.
*
* #var array
*/
protected $fillable = [
'name', 'email', 'password',
];
/**
* The attributes that should be hidden for arrays.
*
* #var array
*/
protected $hidden = [
'password', 'remember_token',
];
/**
* Get the courses that the user has enrolled into
*
* #return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany
*/
public function courses()
{
return $this->hasMany('App\Models\Course', 'user_course', 'user_id', 'course_id');
}
}
class Student extends User
{
protected $table = 'students';
/**
* Get the mentors that the user has hired
*
* #return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany
*/
public function mentors()
{
return $this->hasMany('App\Models\User');
}
}
class Mentor extends User
{
protected $table = 'mentors';
/**
* Get a list of courses that a mentor is teaching
*
* #return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany
*/
public function ownCourses()
{
return $this->hasMany('App\Models\Course', 'mentor_course', 'mentor_id', 'course_id');
}
}
I am wondering whether this is the correct to do what I am trying to accomplish?

Answer 1

IMHO I will use polymorhic relation:
Use three tables: users, students and mentors; in the users table add two fields: userable_id (integer), userable_type (string).
User model
class class User extends Authenticatable
{
public function userable()
{
return $this->morphTo();
}
Student model:
class Student extends Model
{
public function user()
{
return $this->morphOne('App\User', 'userable');
}
Mentor model:
class Mentor extends Model
{
public function user()
{
return $this->morphOne('App\User', 'userable');
}
Now User::find($id)->userable return a Student or a Mentor object depending on the value of the userable_type
I leave the others relations to you, I hope this helps.