Tuition & Scholarships

Education is an investment in your child’s future and we want to help make our programs attainable for families from all corners of the economic spectrum. Sustainable Summer is committed to providing exciting educational opportunities to a diverse group of high school students passionately interested in environmental sustainability. We have two types of financial assistance: 20% tuition assistance and scholarships (up to 100% of tuition).

What is tiered tuition?

Our programs have three different tuition tiers:

  • our “standard” rate is the full program cost
  • our “tuition assistance” rate is a “honors system” ~20% discounted tuition
  • and our “scholarship” rate is an up to 100% of tuition in financial assistance.

Tuition Assistance

Tuition assistance represents a ~20% reduction of the standard program fee. Participants at this tuition rate cover only their direct participation costs, including lodging, meals, activities, instruction and programming.

If your family simply needs a little bit of extra help, our tuition assistance option (20% discounted tuition) is available to all families – no questions asked and without any additional scholarship application forms, tax returns, or anything outside of our normal application process. To take advantage of this option, students should submit a completed application for admissions and then, if accepted, parents indicate the tuition assistance tier at enrollment and will automatically be billed at the reduced tuition rate.

That’s it. Easy, right?!

Scholarships

Our scholarship program is designed to provide financial aid awards of up to 100% of program tuition. We receive a lot of questions about applying for scholarships, so here are some important considerations:

  • All students must FIRST apply and be accepted BEFORE applying for financial assistance.
  • We have three different scholarship application deadlines – early, priority, and regular. Generally speaking, applying earlier can improve your chances of receiving the funding you need to participate.
  • We typically only provide funding for US residents (or non-resident US citizens) that are currently enrolled in high school/secondary education program
  • Award amounts of 40 – 60% of tuition are more common than award amounts of 85 – 100%
  • Scholarship awards do not cover airfare and other travel costs associated with getting to/from a program
  • Generally speaking, students that are flexible with their program preference have the best chance of receiving a scholarship award that meets their financial need
  • Please read carefully through the info below to familiarize yourself with the application process

Accessing Tuition Assistance and Scholarships

We’ve tried to make this as easy as possible.

  • When applying to a program, students do not need to indicate their tuition tier
  • No application fee is necessary. Simply select the “application fee waiver” option when submitting your application.
  • If accepted, parents will select the tuition tier when enrolling a student in the program. For the 20% tuition assistance discount, no additional step is necessary. If applying for scholarship support, the parent will provide a Statement of Financial Circumstances.
  • This process allows for acceptance decisions to be made need-blind. We do still think it is best for students and parents to discuss the financial considerations of participating in a program prior to applying. This is particularly true for families that are applying in our “scholarship” tier, since parents will need to complete our Parent Statement of Financial Circumstances and submit a recent tax return.

Why Tiered Tuition

Sustainable Summer operates on a tiered tuition model. This structure is designed to make participation in a Sustainable Summer program accessible and affordable. Even higher earning families may face temporary financial setbacks or needs, such as loss of a job or multiple siblings in college. A tiered tuition model helps ensure families from across the economic spectrum are able to participate in a program. We’ve been using this model successfully for several years. Internal analysis indicates that there has been little to no “abuse” of the “no questions asked” discount we offer families. Some of the administrative strain of managing our financial aid program is reduced and families that need a bit of extra financial help to participate have one less application to worry about. This is a win-win scenario and we think more organizations in our field should use a tiered tuition model.

The Value of a Sustainable Summer Program

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a commitment to socio-economic diversity in our student population. Our programs are primarily funded by participant tuition, with supplemental support from generous individual donors as well as corporate and government sponsors. We work incredibly hard to run great programs that use our funds as efficiently as possible. Approximately 83% of every dollar our organization receives goes towards our program costs. We are confident that you will not find a better value anywhere in the pre-college field.

A Philosophy of Mutual Trust

You are entrusting your son or daughter’s health, well-being, and education to us. In return, we are entrusting the financial health of our organization to our families. Our ability to continue to offer tiered tuition is contingent upon mutual trust between Sustainable Summer and our families. Some families will clearly fall in our standard tier or scholarship tier. For many, the delineation is much less clear as the total cost of participation pushes up against annual family budgets.

Like any educational opportunity, the program is an investment in the future, and we think students should work an after-school job, skip the daily Starbucks routine, and similar to help fund their participation. Likewise, we’re not asking parents to skip a mortgage payment, go into credit card debit, or stop saving for college and retirement, but if you’re thinking about our tuition assistance rate as an easy way to save a few hundred dollars towards a family trip to Disneyworld, you’re thinking about this the wrong way.

It is important to note that the true cost of participation is the standard tuition rate. Administrative staff salary and benefits, office expenses and utilities, insurance, student recruitment costs, training, equipment and supplies, legal and accounting fees, capital investments and bank fees, and other administrative costs are an essential part of our program operations. Participating at the tuition assistance rate does not cover any of these expenses – only the direct participation costs – and Sustainable Summer depends on a healthy percentage of standard rate participants (supplemented by our own fundraising activities) so that we can continue offering our programs to deserving young people for decades to come.

Standard

This is our standard course fee, which represents the actual cost of operating our programs, including the administrative costs that are necessary to sustain our organization in the long-term.

This is the suggested rate for families living in high cost of living areas with household net assets of greater than $650,000 and/or annual household income of greater than $180,000. Note, this is a guideline based on the 90th percentile income and wealth distributions nationally for persons 45 – 55 years of age. Families below these amounts in low cost of living areas may have a greater ability to pay at the standard rate versus a household in, for example, the Bay Area or NYC earning $180K with two children in college. Please see the information on our tuition assistance rate and make the decision that is appropriate for your family.

Tuition Assistance

Participants at this tuition rate cover only their direct participation costs, including lodging, meals, activities, in-country staff and transportation, and support for local projects.

Participation at this level is based on the honor system. It is available to all families – no documentation required. We simply ask families to honestly consider their financial resources and ability to pay the full tuition rate.

When applying to a program, students do not need to indicate their tuition tier. All acceptance decisions are need-blind. Parents that select “tuition assistance” when enrolling a student in the program will receive the discounted tuition rate which will be applied to their invoice.

Scholarship

Additional scholarship funding is available for students that are unable to participate at either of the above rates. Scholarship participants receive up to 100% of program tuition in financial assistance.

Due to the limited availability of scholarship funds, a parent financial statement and recent tax return is required.

IMPORTANT: Please see our scholarship information for detailed information before submitting an application to Sustainable Summer.

Refund Policy

For information on refund policies when withdrawing, deferring enrollment or changing program, please see our Application FAQs.