Congratulations on your decision to attend the 2021 Westminster Expedition. This off-campus study experience in the American West will offer a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet local leaders who are shaping communities and building conservation partnerships. It will also offer you an opportunity to read the landscape of the West and to learn to see it with the embedded meanings afforded by its history of conflict, adventure, and wonder.

Schedule

The expedition is scheduled to run as an extended road trip. You will be on the road from August 18 (the first day of classes) until November 23 (the day before Thanksgiving break). You will not have any meetings on campus after Thanksgiving, though you will have some independent projects to complete.

As Thoreau once wrote: “We go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure.”

Upcoming Communications

As plans for the trip coalesce, you will receive information via email about assignments, packing lists, logistics, and other details. Be sure to stay on top of your email, checking it at least every couple of days throughout the summer so that you stay apprised of the latest developments. Expedition leaders will also send information about pre-trip readings and other assignments.

Deposit and Course Fee

  • You are responsible for the $500 deposit and the remaining $6,300 course fee (for a total of $6,800, in addition to tuition) that will cover your accommodations, food, field transportation vehicles, programming, park entrance fees, and other costs.
  • The $500 deposit will need to be paid before you can register for the course (you will pay this deposit on the next page of this form).
  • The course fee will be charged as part of your fall bill from campus. The entire fee may be paid at any time after registration (March 29-April 1) and is due no later than August 19.
  • 50% of the course fee will be non-refundable after May 15 and all of the course fee will be non-refundable after June 5. If you drop the course prior to May 15, you will not be charged (though you will lose your $500 deposit). If you are enrolled (as determined by the Self-Service roster) on May 15, 2020, but subsequently drop the course, you will be charged half of the course fee ($3,400). If you drop the course after June 5, you will be charged the entire course fee. This is because Westminster needs to make payments and plans for dorms, campsites, vehicles, etc.
  • If the class is canceled entirely you will receive all recoverable costs.