Program Costs

Deposit In order for us to reserve a space for you in the program, you will need to submit a security deposit which will go towards your course tuition. The amount due in the deposit for each course is listed below. The security deposit is not processed until you are accepted into the program. If you are not accepted into the program the deposit is not processed—the check is torn up or credit card number not processed and purged from our records. If you are accepted and then decide not to attend the program, $75 of your deposit is non-refundable from the time you are accepted and the remainder of the deposit is non-refundable after a set date for each course. You may submit the deposit as soon as you submit the registration form, or after we confirm your acceptance, whichever you prefer.

Discounts Students who pay in full two months before their course begins receive a 10% discount on tuition. There is also a 5% discount on tuition for paying by check or money order.

2009 Course Prices and Deadlines

Lost Valley Educational Center
Camassia Institute Registration
P.O. Box 55
Dexter, OR 97431

Or to use a credit card, please call Camassia Institute Registration: (541) 937-3351 x106.

An incredible value Lost Valley is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. It is our mission to create and foster mutually beneficial relations between humans and all parts of the web of existence. We actively work to make our ecovillage and permaculture courses affordable for everyone, including people with limited financial resources, in a way that also allows us to operate the course, support out staff, and bring in top quality instructors. The cost for these courses includes accommodations and fresh, organic meals prepared three times daily. They are priced at a level that many people would spend simply on living expenses and provide you with the knowledge, skills, and resources to allow you to significantly lower the expenses of your lifestyle after the course (examples include lowering your energy bills, growing more of your own food, using barter networks, etc).

Extended payment plans In order to make it possible for some students to take our courses who are not able to pay the complete course fees by the final payment deadline, in each course we offer a limited number of opportunities for students to pay course fees in several installments over a period of time. If such an arrangement could make it possible for you to attend one of our courses while you wouldn’t be able to otherwise, please let us know.

Work-trade and scholarships The Camassia Institute offers one full scholarship, a “traditional cultural exchange” that is offered to support the link between permaculture and traditional and indigenous cultures that have often been keepers of knowledge about earth-care. This scholarship is specifically for someone who is from a traditional and/or indigenous culture and who intends to share perspectives from their culture with the group as well as bring back information they have learned to share with others in their culture. If you are interested in this, please contact us or fill out an application form and attach a two-page description of how you intend to connect the content of the program with a traditional and/or indigenous culture.

The Camassia Institute occasionally offers partial scholarships based on a combination of a student’s financial need and merit—specifically, that she or he is doing work relevant to sustainability. If you are interested in this, please contact us or fill out an application form and attach a two-page description of your need, the work you are doing, and how you plan to relate course material with your work.

We are also sometimes able to offer a partial work-trade exchange to students with skills and experience relevant to our Kitchen, Building & Maintenance, or Land departments, or to other students in our Service and Sacred Space (hospitality) department, depending on our needs at a given time. Given the time-intensive nature of our courses, work-trade is generally available at a maximum of about $60 per week. Work-trade is offered as a reimbursement to the student at the end of the course, upon receipt of a form signed by the department head or supervisor certifying the number of hours worked. If you are interested in work-trade, please download the form at the bottom of the page and submit it along with your application form.