YTI Summer Academy Sliding Scale

The YTI Summer Academy is funded solely through donations and fees. The approximate cost for us to offer the YTI Summer Academy is $5,100 per scholar. This figure does not include ongoing overhead for the program such as administration and yearlong personnel. It is derived strictly from the operating costs of the academy itself, including dorm space, food, shuttle buses, books, faculty, and summer staff. Funding for the YTI Summer Academy comes solely from donations and scholar fees. The YTI Summer Academy can only continue to operate while we have sufficient donations and fees to do so.

In order to make the Summer Academy as accessible as possible to all youth who apply and are accepted, we use a sliding scale fee structure. We are asking you to decide how much of the cost of attendance your family can afford to pay. We solicit donations to pay for the rest. If the bottom rate ($500) is a barrier for your family, we have financial aid available.

We offer the following suggestions to support you as you discern how your family can best balance the needs of this program with the needs of your family. 


HOW MUCH IT COSTS YTI TO HOST EACH SCHOLAR: $5,100
Consider paying this amount if doing so would not create a hardship for your household. You might choose this rate if you are able to regularly meet your basic needs and have some expendable income, can travel every couple of years without burden, and have some debt but are able to pay it regularly. This is the rate we need most people to contribute in order for this offering to be sustained.

LOW-INCOME RATE $500
Consider paying this amount if you have limited expendable income, have little or no access to financial support from family, have significant debt, and little or no access to savings. We know that there are some families for whom $500 would still be too great a burden on your household. If that is the case for your family, please let us know. Financial aid is available.

PARTIAL LOW-INCOME RATE $501-$5,099
Consider choosing any amount between the low-income rate and the at-cost fee based on a combination of factors that put your financial situation between the two categories described above.

CROSS-CLASS SOLIDARITY $7,000
Consider paying this amount if you are comfortably able to meet your basic needs, own the home you live in, have paid or pay for private education, travel recreationally, have access to financial savings and/or investments, have reliable work or do not have to work to meet your needs, have inherited wealth, and/or have increased earning privilege due to your race, gender, nationality, or education. This rate is a pay-it-forward rate that makes it viable for us to work with more people who need a lower rate.

We will host an online information session on our fee structure for all families of accepted scholars. Information about this session will be included in acceptance letters.