What is the tuition for the Greats Honors Program?
Great Books Program + Wondrium ™ = The Greats Honors Program
The Greats Honors Program has two parts: The Great Books Program and Wondrium™, which together include all courses needed for high school. These two parts of the Greats Honors online high school program are priced separately and are available separately.
ONLY $95 PER MONTH FOR Wondrium ™ and related Academy services including access to all Wondrium™, and live, individual mentoring and subject-area tutoring, weekly assessment and grading and monthly progress reports.
PLUS THE GREAT BOOKS PROGRAM TUITION. The $95 above, is in addition to the tuition of the Great Books Program, which varies depending upon which of the three (3) Great Books tracks you select, listed and priced below. To repeat: to the Great Books track tuition selected, is added the $95 per month for Wondrium ™ with its per-lecture assignments and Academy assessment, individual online mentoring and subject-area tutoring, unlimited phone and email consultation, monthly progress reports and transcript maintenance. Thus combined, this includes all courses needed for the four years of high school studies.
INCLUDES ACCESS TO OVER 300 GREAT COURSES. Greats students are also provided, at no additional charge, password access to all of the superb Wondrium ™ lectures (over 8,500!) in numerous subjects (over 300 courses). Wondrium ™ that have been selected as a formal part of our Greats Honors curriculum are listed HERE. The Academy is solely responsible for payments to Wondrium™ for subscriptions for Greats Honors students, and issues any refunds regarding same, pursuant to its posted refund policies; students in arrears on monthly tuition payments may have their subscription terminated.
What are the total monthly tuition payments, when added to the Great Books Program tuition?
3 GREAT BOOKS OPTIONS. The three Great Books Program tracks vary from $129 per month (for the High School track), to $299 per month (for the College Credit track), to $350 per month (for the Associate’s degree track, which includes 5 Online Holy Apostles College courses). So to whichever Great Books track you select, you would add $95 per month to include Wondrium ™ lectures, live tutorials, individual mentoring, monthly progress reports, grading, transcripts, etc., all of which together constitutes the Greats Honors Program, leading to the Greats Honors Program high school diploma. This tuition chart may be instructive:
GREAT BOOKS PROGRAM TRACK SELECTED
Is there a family discount for siblings in the Greats Honors Program?
Yes. 30%. So rather than $95 per month for Wondrium™ and related Academy services, it is only $71.25 per month for siblings, after the first one in the Greats Honors Program. This discount may not be combined with any other discounts. There is a similar discount for the Great Books portion of the Greats Honors Program.
How does the Greats Honors Program tuition compare to other online high school programs?
HIGHEST QUALITY–LEAST EXPENSIVE. This chart compares the tuition and fees for reasonably comparable, online, high-school-level homeschool programs, based on each offering 6 courses per semester with live, online interaction with faculty (for at least 4 hours per week).
COMPARATIVE TUITION CHART WITH OTHER ONLINE, LIVE, HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL HOMESCHOOL PROGRAMS (w/all services offered)
| Homeschool HS Program | Cost Per Course | X 6 High School Level Courses* |
Plus Fees | Total Cost Per Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H | $500 | $3,000 | 0 | $3,000 |
| K | $700 | $4,200 | $287 | $4,487 |
| M | $575 | $3,450 | 0 | $3,450 |
| M | (c. $442) | $1,095 | $1,554 | $2,650 |
| Q | $500 | $2,500 | $150 | $2,650 |
| T | $650 | $3,900 | $100 | $4,000 |
| Greats Honors Program | (c. $365) | $1,395 Great Books + $99 month Greats | 0 | $2,287 |
*In the GHP this includes the Great Books high school track and five other subjects each semester (see GHP curriculum chart).
Only the Greats Honors Program includes these features:
• Access to over 300 Wondrium™ courses (8,500 lectures) at no extra cost
• World Class Lecturers/World Class Lectures
• 2-Hour Weekly, Live, Great Books Socratic Discussions w/Two Expert Moderators
• Individualized Online Mentoring and Subject-Area Tutorials
• Monthly Progress Reports
• Optional College Credit for Up to 60 Credits
Why should I not simply borrow the Great Books from the library or online, and subscribe to Wondrium™ or buy or borrow The Great Courses™ myself – and save some money that way?
There is no reason not to do so if all you wish to have your student do is read books, without study guides, or listen to the lectures-which amounts to the same thing. You could no doubt reduce education costs that way. However, the higher costs are primarily for faculty moderators, mentors, tutors, graders and monthly progress report and transcript administration. If you also desire your student to be part of an academic community of faculty and students expert in the various fields involved, a radically independent approach will not provide what our faculty moderators, tutors and mentors, graders and administrators provide. The Great Honors Program includes teaching, leading and modeling Socratic discussions, answering questions (and posing interesting ones), correcting and defanging errors, helping to overcome various intellectual stumbling blocks, assessing monthly progress, suggesting insights and openly recognizing new ones, instruction in the dialectical approach to learning and discourse, offering encouragement, guidance, study advice and support, and so on. If all or some of that is very important to you or for your student-as we believe it to be-then merely reading books or passively viewing some lectures simply will not suffice.
Similarly, the interaction with fellow Honors students, particularly in the 2-hour, Great Books weekly classes who are engaged in the same intellectual adventures, at the same time, is a priceless experience, that not only enriches the experiences and discussions, but often results in life-long friendships with fellow students who have read and discussed the same great books and lectures, and shared the impact of those books and courses with each other, often over a period of four years. Imagine what a treasure that would be in anyone’s life-the opportunity to share such a rich intellectual journey with fellow students, for up to four years.
Mortimer Adler never tired of reminding his students “Aristotle believes ‘reading alone is as bad as drinking alone.’ That is because Aristotle believes ‘life in common is…knowledge in common.’ Aristotle also suggests that conversations among equals
[eg. fellow students, moderators and tutors in Socratic discussions], can be profound learning experiences, because in pleasant settings with friends or friendly equals, we are willing to share our insights, take intellectual risks, and try out ideas, whether fully baked or not. Hence such friends are necessary for the life of the mind because they act as sounding boards and critics of our bright ideas. That is why our best friends will be our equals, people who are not reluctant to tell us where we are all wet or when we’re slightly damp. In this regard, Aristotle says we see ourselves most clearly through the eyes of others. ‘We can contemplate our neighbors better than ourselves, and their actions better than our own.’ So the happy person needs to be conscious of the existence of his friends, and ‘this will come about through … sharing in discussion and thought.’”What is the cost to take Greats Honors Program courses for college credit?
Fully 40% of the courses in the GHP curriculum – all eight the Great Books courses (6 credits per semester = 48 total credits) are now available for students to take for college credit (the rest of the Greats Honors Program courses-including all of Wondrium ™– provide the other courses needed to complete their high school studies and earn the Great Honors Program diploma, but not college credit). These college credits were recommended by the American Council for Education College Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT), to the nearly 1,800 American Council for Education member colleges and universities. 48 credits is about 1½ years of a typical 4-year BA degree in the US.
The Great Books College “track” to obtain that college credit, is linked here for the relevant information: College Credit track. The cost to take these courses for college credit is $250 per credit hour. Compare that to the $400-$1,512 cost per-credit-hour from For-Profit colleges to Private non-profit colleges, respectively, representing the lowest to the highest costs per-credit-hour. This chart shows the comparative cost for a BA degree.
Average Published Charges for Undergraduates 2016-17 Source: College Board (Enrollment-Weighted) Type of Four-Year Institution Tuition Room & Board Total per Year 2-Year AA Total Cost 4-Year BA Total Cost Public Two-Year (in District) $3,520 $8,060 $11,580 $23,160 $63,340* Public Four-Year (In-State) $9,550 $10,440 $20,090 $40,180 $80,360 Public Four-Year (Out-of -State) $24,930 $10,440 $35,370 $70,740 $141,480 Private Nonprofit Four-Year $33,480 $11,890 $45,370 $90,740 $181,480 For Profit (nonresidential) $16,000 – $16,000 $32,000 $48,000 Great Books A.A. track $7,500 – $7,500 $15,000 $30,000 * Assumes 120 credit hours for bachelor’s degree. Does not include any scholarships. *2 Years at Two-Year and 2 years at Public Four-Year (In-State) For comparison purposes only, the above chart utilizes the 48 college credits in the Great Books College track, which cost $2,995 per year for 12 credits, and multiplies that by 2.5 to equal 30 credits, in order to compare costs. $ 2,995 x 2.5 = $ 7,487 per year, which would be the comparable figure if we provided all credits.
To exercise the college credit option, simply enroll your student in one of those Great Books tracks HERE, both of which are a part of the Greats Honors Program, which also provides the other courses needed for their high school diploma
As everyone now knows, the cost of a college education has grown exponentially in recent years. College seniors who borrow to finance their education now graduate with an average of c. $40,000 in debt — many exceed $100,000 — and student loan debt now tops credit card debt among Americans. The average age of persons with student loan debt is now 40 and rising. Tuition, fees and books with room and board at private, four-year colleges average over $45,000 per year — over $180,000 for a four-year degree (does not include any scholarships).
