Summer Springboard AI & Society High School Course

On a typical day, class takes up most of the morning, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. with a 15-minute break at 11:00, followed by lunch and free time in a campus dining hall. At 3:00 p.m. there's an academic excursion or lab tied to your course, and commuters head home at 5:00 p.m. Residential students get free time, dinner at 6:00 and an evening activity at 7:00, then more free time before dorm checks at 9:30 p.m.

Everyone checks in on the Sunday, residential or commuter, for orientation, ice-breakers and dinner. Both weeks run Sunday to Saturday, and the weekend trips to Boston and New York City are only for students who stay more than one week, so a one-week student won't go on them.

You need to have finished 8th grade by the start date and to hold a 3.0 GPA or your school's equivalent, and students who graduated in the spring can enroll too. International students show their English either in a phone interview or with a minimum score of 60 on the TOEFL iBT (490 on paper), PET with Distinction or FCE grade C on a Cambridge exam, or 450 in SAT Reading and Writing.

A complete application also includes short-answer essay questions and signed agreement forms. Course places are assigned first come, first served, so a session can fill and leave you on a waitlist. Summer Springboard reviews every application against its Essential Eligibility Criteria, which expect students to manage their own care and medications, and students with some health conditions may be asked for medical clearance and a 12-month period of stability. Summer Springboard also says its programs aren't therapeutic.

A residential week costs $4,298 and covers your room, all meals, excursions and the course. A commuter week costs $2,498 and covers lunch, the course, excursions and programming from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Summer Springboard adds a $250 course supplement for AI & Society to either price. These are its prices for applications made by 30 November 2026, and it says tuition goes up on 1 December without publishing the new figures.

Every application also needs a $600 deposit and an application fee that starts at $99. If you add another one-week course at Yale, each extra week costs $3,298 residential or $1,998 commuter. If you apply before 10 March 2027, the balance is paid in three parts on 10 March, 10 April and 10 May. Payments after 10 May carry a $150 late fee, and Summer Springboard may cancel the place without a refund if the balance isn't paid by 1 June.

• Travel

  Flights aren't included. The airport shuttle costs $95 each way if your flight lands in the set window, plus $50 each way for students traveling as unaccompanied minors, which Summer Springboard requires of students 14 or younger.

• Other extras

  Every student needs health insurance, and the family pays any medical costs. Access to Yale's Payne Whitney Gym is $27 a week, laundry runs about $1.25 a wash and $1.25 a dry, and Summer Springboard suggests about $100 a week in spending money.

• Financial aid

  Need-based scholarships cover up to 30% of residential tuition or 60% of commuter tuition, depending on funds and your family's finances, and can't be used toward the deposit or application fee. You apply with a form and your latest tax filing and hear back in about 7 business days.

• Cancellation cover

  An optional Tuition Protection Plan, bought with the application, lets you cancel for any reason up to the program day. Its 2026 terms priced it at $699, which isn't refunded.

Applications go through Summer Springboard's online enrollment page, and admissions are rolling within set deadline waves.

1. 1

   Create an account with basic contact details and confirm the verification email.

2. 2

   Choose Yale, your session, AI & Society and residential or commuter tuition, then complete the application with the student present, which takes about 30 minutes.

3. 3

   Pay the $600 deposit and application fee to hold your place.

4. 4

   Expect a decision within 5 to 7 business days, and send any extra paperwork Summer Springboard asks for within 48 hours or the place can't go ahead.

5. 5

   Apply by 21 February 2027 to pay the lowest application fee, since it rises to $149 after that date and $199 after 18 April 2027, and some courses close at each step.

6. 6

   Enrollment closes on 16 May 2027. If you enroll before 25 April, pre-departure documents are due by 1 May, or within 7 days of acceptance if you enroll later, and late documents cost $50.

Summer Springboard staff live on every floor of the dorm, and the Campus Director, Assistant Campus Director and other staff also live in the dorms and are available around the clock for emergencies. Getting into the dorms takes an individual access card, Yale Security patrols the campus and residence halls 24/7, and students must be in their rooms after 10 p.m. Campus directors hold bachelor's or master's degrees, and all staff go through background checks and training. Families sign the Code of Conduct before the program starts.

• Free time

  Students are supervised in class and on excursions, and in free time they can move around within set campus boundaries in groups of three or more.

• Health care

  Summer Springboard works with Yale New Haven Hospital and has a doctor on call 24/7. Staff escort sick students to care and contact parents, and students keep and take their own medications.

• Rooms

  Floors are separated by gender, and you'll most likely share a room with one other student in a suite with a common area, though some students get single rooms. Yale's residential colleges have no air conditioning, so Summer Springboard gives every student a fan.

• Rules

  Alcohol, drugs, tobacco and vaping are banned and phones must be off during activities. A student expelled for breaking the rules flies home at the family's expense with no refund.

You leave with a completion certificate and a letter of recommendation written by your instructor, along with the solution you designed for a real AI problem during the week. Summer Springboard says both documents are earned rather than automatic and can be withheld for breaking the Code of Conduct or not taking part. The course carries no college credit, which Summer Springboard offers only at its Cal Poly and NYSID programs.