If I send in my Tuition Fee then have to cancel, can I
get my Tuition Fee back?
How much are my total costs, including tuition, housing,
specimens, and forms?
Can I work at the school during off hours and/or do extra
specimens?
Does your school accept Federal Pell Grants?
Can I take a mini course at a time other than the regularly
scheduled October mini sessions.
Do you have Taxidermy Videos Available?
Q. If I send in my Tuition Fee then have to cancel, can I get
my Tuition Fee back?
A. As stated on our policies and enrollment page, all Tuition Fee's are nonrefundable.
When you enroll, we reserve a spot for you. This means no one else can take
your spot. If Tuition Fee's were refunded every time a person had to cancel,
that would contradict the very reason for the Tuition Fee.
We will, upon the student's request apply the Tuition Fee towards another class if an additional Tuition Fee in the amount of $550.00 is sent also. Then both Tuition Fee amounts are credited towards the tuition. We cannot simply reapply the original Tuition Fee to another class. In the past, we have had students who just kept canceling, then reapplying the same Tuition Fee to the next class. We have implemented the "additional Tuition Fee" policy to help prevent this. It is required each time a student switches classes.
Q. How much are my total costs, including tuition, housing,
specimens, and forms?
A. This is a very common question, but one that is better answered by some simple
research on your part. If you thoroughly study the Tuition & Expenses Page
and follow the suggested procedure, you will be able to come up with a very
good estimate on your own. For Specimens and Forms, just make a list of all
of your choices for the class requirements; (2 Gameheads, 2 Lifesize, 1 Rug,
1 Antler plaque, 4 Birds, and 3-5 Fish). Then using our specimen and form price
chart, simply add up the Cape/Skin prices, the Forms prices, and the estimated
Antler prices to come up with your total. When the chart shows a price range
for a given specimen, it would be best to estimate at the high end to be safe,
as specimen prices do fluctuate.
For housing, your average costs right now, (for the year 2004) are averaging
$475.00 to $500.00 per month. These amounts can also change, but not to a large
degree.
Q. Can I work at the school during off hours and/or do extra
specimens?
A. If overtime is needed for the majority of the class, we will schedule extra
hours to be worked. We do not make special arrangements to come in during our
off hours for the benefit of our more "enthusiastic" students. It
is commendable to want extra training, but when we did this in the past, we
ended up with very little free time for ourselves. There are however, certain
things we will allow students to take with them after class to work on. For
example, a student who has learned the proper method of stitching, will not
need to be supervised for each and every stitch he makes when sewing his specimens.
In many cases, it is actually required that a student do some sewing after class
at his living quarters, in order to finish on time. If you would like to work
on your specimens after class, please ask, and we will give you something to
do on your own.
Q. Can I be trained only in a specific area of taxidermy, such
as just mammals, just birds, or just fish?
A. For those of you wishing to specialize in one area of taxidermy, please refer
to our mini courses on our curriculum page. This page explains our two-week
mammal course, and our two-week bird and fish course.
If you would like to learn just birds, but not fish, or fish, but not birds,
your only other option would be to have us put you on a waiting list for an
eight-week partial. Our two-week bird and fish is not set up to be split into
just a bird, or just a fish class. In our eight-week course however, the first
two weeks are bird training, the middle four weeks are mammal training, and
the last two weeks are fish training. Usually, we fill our eight-week classes
up with twelve students who plan to take the entire course. If however, we do
not fill the class up, we will allow someone to take just a portion of the class.
For example, if we have eleven students enrolled for a particular class, and
we are close enough to the start date to assume we will not fill the twelfth
spot, we will then let someone wishing to take a portion of that class fill
the spot.
If none of our regular courses will fit your needs, and a partial course is
currently the only option for you, please contact us so we can discuss costs
and put you on a waiting list for whatever portion of the course it is you wish
to take.
Q. Does your school accept Federal Pell Grants?
A. We are not set up to accept Federal Pell Grants. After researching the possibility,
we found that since the Grants are prorated according to the time students are
in attendance, the amount they would receive is not enough to significantly
assist them in their financing.
For example, if a student is approved for a $4,500. Pell Grant amount, that
amount would be for a nine month school year. Since our course is only about
two months, that student would only receive $1000., which is a two/ninths pro-ration
of the full amount. It is unlikely that someone whose financial situation qualified
them for a large grant amount, would have the finances to cover the rest of
the tuition, specimens, and housing. It is unfortunate that this is the current
situation with the Grant, and we hoping that conditions will change in the future.
If they do, our facility will then reconsider the circumstances.
Q. Can I take a mini course at a time other than the regularly
scheduled October mini sessions.
A. At the present time, we only offer mini courses in the Fall. Our most popular
class is our full eight week class. Our most popular times of year are the Winter,
Spring, and Summer. We therefore, feel we need to make our most popular courses
available at the most popular times of year, which leaves only the Fall for
our scheduled mini courses. If we decide to change this in the future, it will
be immediately posted on this Website.
Q. Do you have Taxidermy Videos available?
A. We do not currently sell Taxidermy How-To Videos. You are welcome however,
to bring your own video camera and tape any or all of the taxidermy demonstrations.
This will provide you with your own complete set of taxidermy training videos
for future review.