The sponsorship fee of an assistance dog is $9,500; $1,000 to be received by NEADS before you are matched with a dog; $1,000 to be received by NEADS before you begin training and the balance of $7,500 to be received by NEADS within one year of getting the dog.  We will help you with this if you need to raise the money.  This amount covers the cost of the dog and all associated equipment that you will bring home with your dog following your training here.  This amount, $7,500, may be paid in full or you can arrange a time-payment schedule with us.

The cost of raising and training an assistance dog is actually about $20,000, but you do not need to pay the additional amount.  We, do, however, ask for your help in obtaining underwriting for our training costs.  NEADS secures funds to underwrite the raising and training of each Assistance Dog by writing grants to foundations and corporations; by contacting services organizations like the Lions, Kiwanis, and Women's Clubs among others in your community; and by reaching out to individuals and businesses interested in helping people live more independently with the support of a canine assistant. However, you may have friends or relatives who work at local companies who are members of a local service organization or are state or federal employees whose company has a workplace employee fundraising campaign. These personal contacts could be a great help to NEADS in securing underwriting.

Following your personal interview with our trainers or review of your video interview, and upon your acceptance, a staff member will meet with you and explain the underwriting process.

Participation in fund raising will not affect how quickly you are matched with a dog. Regardless of how much underwriting funding has been raised, when the trainers have a dog that is the right match for you, you will be scheduled to come to NEADS to train with your dog. It is really the dogs who "tell us" when they are ready to be matched and who they should be matched with - based on how well their temperament, personality, size, and breed matches your own personality, lifestyle, and individual assistive needs.

No one is denied a dog based on his or her inability to pay for the dog.

So, whether $5 or $5,000 has been raised when you get the call that a dog has been matched with you, we will schedule you for your training. It just means that NEADS may have to work a little harder to secure the underwriting funding once you've been matched. And, potential funders tend to pay more attention when we can tell them we've matched you with a dog, your scheduled training dates, and your graduation date.