Registration Deposit:
Prior to June 1, families will be required to submit a $250, non-refundable registration deposit along with their application for admission. We accept check, money order, MasterCard, Visa and Discover. The registration fee will be refunded only if the camper is not accepted. If a camper must cancel a course, the registration fee may be used for another course during the current season or during the next season. After that, the deposit will become unavailable for use.
Fee Payment:
When completing your online application, you will be required to submit payment information for all future billing, including tuition balances and additional expenses that may occur. For any registration received prior to June 1, the balance of all tuition fees is due no later than June 1st. After June 1st, payment must be received in full for the student to be confirmed for the course.
On June 1st, any remaining balances will be automatically charged to the payment selected during the application process. If paying via an alternate source (i.e. check from family member, DSS, or other) payment must be received prior to June 1st to prevent your card from being automatically billed. Tuition payments made via credit card or e-check, prior to June 1st, may be completed by phone or online by logging into your account at www.soarnc.org/login.html.
Additional Expenses:
Your child may incur additional expenses while at camp. This includes prescription medication costs if your child gets sick, damage fees for intentional damage done to SOAR property, or additional airline expenses. The airline expenses may include, but are not limited to, airline baggage fees, airline escort / unaccompanied minor fees, flight change fees due to missed flights, etc. In the event any additional fees occur, SOAR will charge the payment method selected for future billings, and will notify you of the amount charged your credit card on file.
Refund Policy:
Upon cancellation of a course for any reason, the tuition balance (excluding the registration deposit) will be refunded on the following schedule:
- 61 days or more from course start date Full refund
- 31 – 60 days from course start date 50% refund
- 16 – 30 days from course start date 25% refund
- Within 15 days of course start date No Refund
Once the course begins, if a camper is removed from course for any reason, there will be no refund. This includes illness, injury, behavior, family emergency, or any other reason necessary.
SOAR reserves the right to cancel a course due to insufficient enrollment.
Scholarship Fund:
A limited number of scholarships are available to students based on financial need. Applicants are encouraged to contact SOAR early for necessary forms. SOAR’s scholarship fund is raised from donations made by parents of current and former campers. If you are interested in contributing to this worthwhile fund, please speak to us! Your contributions are tax deductible.
Spending Money:
Spending money for all course and layover days will be added to your invoice. We have carefully evaluated the amount of spending money appropriate for each course and ask you not to send more money beyond the invoiced amount. SOAR will not be responsible for any money sent over the recommended amount. Approximately $15.00 of your child’s spending money will be held aside for a celebratory dinner near the end of their course. Any remaining money may be used by the student for souvenirs or necessary personal items during the course. Unspent money from purchases will be returned during the debrief. If requested, the staff will keep track of student spending through receipts, which may be returned to parents. This may be used to help teach financial accountability.
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Philosophy: SOAR believes all individuals identified with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit disorder (AD/HD) possess inherent talents and gifts. These abilities can mean incredible success in adulthood once these students negotiate the challenging obstacles of childhood, adolescence, and a traditional education system, usually unable to respond to individual learning styles.
Therefore, the SOAR model is based on two fundamental principles. First, youth with LD and AD/HD flourish when they are encouraged to focus on their strengths in an experiential setting. The second principle acknowledges that success can be generalized by encouraging our students to develop and utilize strategies, enabling them to compensate for those challenging characteristics of LD and AD/HD. To this end, SOAR staff strive to ensure success for each student across a wide range of experiences. Such success, in turn, builds essential self-esteem and self-confidence.
Based on these two foundations, SOAR participants develop problem solving skills, effective communication strategies, increased self-awareness, and social skills. Program activities include a broad base of wilderness adventure experiences that empower students to make healthy choices, learn more about themselves, overcome challenges, and establish relevance from these experiences to other aspects of their life.
SOAR's Specialty Courses are open to SOAR alumni and students with the maturity and experience level to be successful on the course. Acceptance is conditional on the approval of the course director. Most specialty courses are led by one of SOAR's year-round staff including Jonathan Jones, John Willson and Logan Walters.
SOAR’s programs are designed to allow students the opportunity to increase their independence while away from home. Independence is gained through self-motivation and life skills instruction. With this in mind, we involve our students in many decision making processes, such as setting individual goals, developing group guidelines, as well as trip and meal planning. This also comes into consideration when developing SOAR’s communication policy, detailed in our Parent Handbook.
SOAR is dedicated to serving the needs of individuals with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit disorder (AD/HD) and is proud to be the finest: