Living Earth School Refund & Financial Policies:

Regarding All Programs

How to Access Your Online Account to Pay:

CLICK HERE to access your online Active account if you wish to check or pay your balance.

Late Registration:

If the registration deadline has passed for a session and registration is closed, participants may email connect@livingearthva.org to ask if there are any openings for the week in question, and may still register if space is available. A $15 late fee will be charged for each late registration.

Transfers:

All registrations can be transferred to alternate weeks if there are openings in the week in question. A $15 transfer fee will be charged for each administrative transfer.

Payment Plans:

Payment plans are available by contacting us at connect@livingearthva.org directly after you register for a program. If you sign a payment plan contract, you are responsible for completing all program payments, even if the participant drops out of the program.

General Cancellation and Refund Policy:

Although we rarely need to do so, we reserve the right to cancel a course or change a course duration, tuition or location. The Living Earth School is not responsible for costs associated in these cases. We recommend that you consider refundable tickets for travel.

We are unable to offer refunds if any duration of a program is cancelled due to inclement weather, or circumstances out of our control.
If a program is cancelled due to low enrollment, tuition will be fully refundable or transferable.

We are unable to issue refunds for participants who go home for any reason: illness, homesickness, behavioral issue, injury, or family emergency.

Scholarships:

For youth programs, please fill out our APPLICATION FORM to be considered. Scholarship grants are decided on a first-come first-serve basis. We will start processing applications about a month before program registration opens, and applicants will hear back within 2 weeks. See each program page for more details.

For LEAF scholarships and work trade, please check that web page for a separate application.

Regarding Specific Programs

Summer Day Camp:

All registrants pay a $100 non-refundable deposit upon enrollment in summer day camps.
Registrant may cancel registration prior to May 1 for a refund minus the $100 deposit.
After May 1 registrant may receive a refund, minus the $100 non-refundable deposit, only if another camper is able to fill the vacancy. Living Earth Staff will endeavor to find someone from the waiting list to fill the vacancy, but LES cannot guarantee the space will be filled.

Please read through the general financial information regarding all programs at the top of the page.

COVID-19 Policy: If state and national guidelines direct us to cancel summer camps due to the COVID-19 virus, then registrants will have the choice to be fully refunded to their card for each registration.

Summer Overnight Camp:

All registrants pay a $150 non-refundable deposit upon enrollment in overnight camps.
Registrant may cancel registration prior to May 1 for a refund minus the $150 deposit.
After May 1, customer may receive a refund, minus the $150 deposit, only if another camper is able to fill the vacancy. Living Earth Staff will endeavor to find someone from the waiting list to fill the vacancy created by the cancellation, but LES cannot guarantee the space will be filled.

Please read through the general financial information regarding all programs at the top of the page.

School Year Youth Programs (Homeschool and Weekend Programs):

All registrants pay a non-refundable deposit upon enrollment in youth programs. The non-refundable deposit for full-year homeschool tuition is $200. The non-refundable deposit for a one season only tuition is $100.

Registrant may cancel registration for a refund minus the non-refundable deposit up to one month prior to the first day of the course in question.
If the registrant wishes to cancel registration within one month of the beginning of the course, the registrant may receive a refund, minus the non-refundable deposit, only if another person is able to fill the vacancy. Living Earth Staff will help to find a replacement to fill the vacancy from the waiting list, but LES cannot guarantee the space will be filled.

Youth weekend programs have one built-in make-up day in the schedule should a class be cancelled for any reason. Parents are responsible for keeping the make-up day free in case it is needed. If multiple class days must be cancelled outside of the make-up day due to weather or circumstances out of our control, there is no refund.

Please read through the general financial information regarding all programs at the top of the page.

Adult and Family Specialty Programs With a Deposit:

For specialty programs in which all registrants pay a non-refundable deposit upon enrollment, a registrant may cancel registration up to one month prior to the start of the program and receive a refund minus the deposit.

After one month before the start of the program, the customer may receive a refund, minus the deposit, only if another participant is able to fill the vacancy. Living Earth Staff will endeavor to find someone from the wait list to fill the vacancy created by the cancellation, but LES cannot guarantee the space will be filled.

Please read through the general financial information regarding all programs at the top of the page.

Adult and Family Specialty Programs Without a Deposit:

All adult and family programs without a deposit upon registration are non-refundable unless the program is cancelled due to low-enrollment, or unless there is a wait-list and a person has been found to take your place, which we cannot guarantee. In that case, there is a $15 cancellation fee per person.

Please read through the general financial information regarding all programs at the top of the page.

Living Earth Adult Foundations (LEAF):

All registrants pay a $500 non-refundable deposit upon enrollment.

Registrant may cancel registration one month prior to the start of the program minus the $500 deposit.

After one month before the start of the program, the customer may receive a refund, minus the $500 deposit, only if another participant is able to fill the vacancy. Living Earth Staff will endeavor to find someone from the wait list to fill the vacancy created by the cancellation, but LES cannot guarantee the space will be filled.

Because of the nature of outdoor education, we don’t refund for cancellations due to inclement weather. However COVID is a different kind of uncertainty. Here is our LEAF COVID refund policy:

We assure participants that we will follow public health guidelines to keep us and our participants as safe as we can in our outdoor, camping setting.
If the program has a delayed start (meaning we cannot run class in September, or September and October, etc), we will refund participants for those weekends missed. We have alternate, shortened program plans that will make the program worthwhile no matter how many months we meet.
If the program runs in September, yet we need to cancel class in a future month due to COVID, we will hold online zoom sessions during the scheduled weekend in which we will give teaching points, send folks out on nature missions, and then share reflections afterwards as a group. (We did this for our April and May 2020 weekends, so we are pros. :) If a weekend is moved online, participants will be refunded 50% of their tuition for that weekend.
Instead of refunds, a participant is also welcome to credit their tuition toward a future LES program.

Please read through the general financial information regarding all programs at the top of the page.