Summer Springboard Climate Change & Environmental Policy High School Course

Class runs from 9am to noon. There are five sessions in the first week (Monday to Friday) and four in the second (Monday to Thursday), which makes nine three-hour sessions, or about 27 hours in total.

Summer Springboard's typical day at UC San Diego starts with breakfast at 8am in the dining hall. After lunch at noon, 1:30pm is set aside for a recreational activity or an academic excursion. For this course, Summer Springboard says trips may include tours of local renewable energy infrastructure, field surveys on nearby coastal bluffs or visits to university research centers. At 3pm you go to a College Readiness Workshop or to True You, the personal development sessions. Over the two weeks you pick two 90-minute workshops from options such as speaking with confidence, managing money, developing leadership and preparing for college applications.

Commuters leave at 5pm. Residential students have dinner at 6pm and clubs or evening activities from 7pm, with dorm checks at 10:30pm. Weekends bring trips for residential students, such as Old Town San Diego, Little Italy's farmers market and Coronado Beach on Saturday, and the San Diego Zoo and Belmont Park on Sunday. Everyone, commuters included, checks in on the opening Sunday for orientation.

You need to have finished 8th grade by the start date. That means students starting high school in fall 2027 qualify, and so do seniors graduating in spring 2027. You also need a 3.0 GPA or its local equivalent. International students must show their English through a phone interview or one of these scores: TOEFL 490 on paper or 60 on the iBT, Cambridge PET with Distinction or FCE at grade C, or 450 in SAT Reading and Writing.

The application itself has short-answer essay questions and signed agreement forms, and Summer Springboard reviews it holistically against its Essential Eligibility Criteria. Students must be able to manage their own daily care and medication, walk more than a mile unassisted and follow instructions in English. Summer Springboard says its programs aren't therapeutic, and a student with certain health conditions may be asked for medical documentation or a doctor's sign-off. Summer Springboard publishes no acceptance rate. Courses fill on a first-come, first-served basis, and once this one is full, new applicants go on a waitlist.

For applications made by 30 November 2026, the residential option costs $5,998 and the commuter option $3,298. Summer Springboard raises tuition on 1 December 2026 and hasn't published the new figures. Residential tuition covers your room, all meals, the course, its excursions and weekend trips. Commuter tuition covers the course, lunch, excursions and programming from 9am to 5pm on weekdays, and weekend trips cost $125 a day extra.

There's also a nonrefundable application fee of $99, which rises to $149 after 21 February 2027 and to $199 after 18 April 2027, and you pay a $600 deposit when you apply. Flights aren't included. The airport shuttle costs $95 each way, plus $50 each way for a student traveling as an unaccompanied minor. You'll need proof of health insurance, and the family pays any medical bills. Summer Springboard suggests bringing about $100 a week in spending money. The balance is paid in installments, with the last one due by 10 May 2027, and payments after that date carry a $150 late fee.

Need-based scholarships can cover up to 30% of residential tuition or 60% of commuter tuition, but they can't be used for the deposit or the application fee. If you cancel, the refund shrinks through the spring, as the table shows. An optional Tuition Protection Plan costs $699, must be bought when you apply and isn't refundable. With it, you can cancel for any reason up to the first day and get back what you've paid apart from the plan itself.

You leave with a completion certificate and a letter of recommendation written by your instructor. Summer Springboard is clear that both have to be earned, and it can withhold them for a code-of-conduct breach or for not taking part. There's no college credit, because Summer Springboard offers credit only on its Cal Poly and New York School of Interior Design programs.

The rest of what you take away is the work itself, such as the Climate Action Plan, the flood-risk maps and the clean energy strategy. Summer Springboard doesn't say whether these are graded or how much feedback you get on them.

Staff live right alongside students. Mentors share the suites, and the Campus Director and Assistant Campus Director also live in the dorms and deal with emergencies around the clock. You need an access card to get into the building and your suite, with a separate key for your room, and UCSD Police patrol the campus and residence halls 24/7. Students must be in their rooms from 10pm.

You'll share a room with one other student in a gender-separated suite, and the rooms have no air conditioning. In free time you can move around within set campus boundaries in groups of three or more. If you're ill or hurt, a staff member goes with you for treatment, which in an emergency is likely to be at the UC San Diego Health Emergency Department, about 2 miles from the dorms, and your parents are told. Students keep and take their own medication, and all staff go through background checks. Summer Springboard's Code of Conduct bans alcohol, drugs, tobacco and vaping. A student who's expelled is sent home at the family's expense, with no refund.

Applications go through Summer Springboard's enrollment page, which leads to its online portal.

1. 1

   Check that this course's single session, 20 June to 2 July 2027, still shows as available on Summer Springboard's program availability list.

2. 2

   Enter basic contact details, confirm the verification email and complete your account details on the dashboard.

3. 3

   Create a new application, choosing UC San Diego, Session 1, Climate Change & Environmental Policy, and either residential or commuter tuition.

4. 4

   Complete the full application with the student present, which takes about 30 minutes and includes short-answer essay questions and signed agreement forms.

5. 5

   Pay the $600 deposit and the application fee to hold your place. The final deadline is 16 May 2027, but applying by 30 November 2026 avoids the tuition rise, and applying by 21 February 2027 keeps the fee at $99.

6. 6

   Expect an enrollment decision within 5 to 7 business days, after which the remaining enrollment forms open up.

7. 7

   Send in pre-departure documents by 1 May 2027 if you enroll before 25 April 2027, or within 7 days of acceptance if you enroll later, and pay the rest of the balance by 10 May 2027.