Summer Springboard Middle School Finance & Investing

Mornings are for the course itself, with class from 9am to 12pm Monday to Friday, which adds up to five 3-hour sessions. After lunch at 12pm, afternoons go to excursions, hands-on labs or recreation, and at 3:30pm there's an Academic Skills Lab where teams work on their portfolio and pitch. Wednesday afternoon is set aside for extra academic time, which may include an excursion or a guest speaker.

Summer Springboard's finance outings include stepping onto live market floors and a Wall Street history quest, and every student on the NYU middle school program also visits one of New York City's museums. Commuters head home between 5 and 6pm. Residential students get free time at 5pm, dinner at 6pm and an evening activity at 7pm, and they're back in the dorm by 8:30pm for a mentor check-in at 9:30pm. The week ends with check-out at 2:30pm on Friday.

You need to have finished 6th grade by the time the program starts and to have a 3.0 grade point average or the local equivalent. Students from outside the US show their English through a telephone interview or a test score. Summer Springboard also reviews each application against its Essential Eligibility Criteria, and for some families those matter more than the GPA.

Students are expected to manage their own personal care and medication, follow staff instructions in English and walk more than a mile, and a student with certain health conditions may be asked for medical documentation and a period of stable health of at least 12 months. Places in each course go first-come, first-served, with a waitlist once a session fills.

Residential tuition is $3,198 and covers lodging, all meals, the course, excursions and evening activities. Commuter tuition is $1,798 and covers the course, lunch and daytime excursions, but not lodging, breakfast, dinner or evening activities. Those prices apply to applications made by 30 November 2026, and Summer Springboard raises tuition on 1 December 2026, so applying later will cost more.

When you apply, you pay a $600 deposit along with the application fee, which is $99 and rises to $149 at the 21 February 2027 deadline and $199 at the 18 April 2027 deadline. Flights and health insurance aren't included, and the airport shuttle costs $95 each way. A student aged 14 or under who flies alone must travel as an airline unaccompanied minor, which adds $50 each way on top of the shuttle as well as the airline's own charge. Summer Springboard suggests bringing about $100 a week in spending money.

Need-based scholarships cover up to 30% of residential tuition or 60% of commuter tuition, but never the deposit or application fee. If you cancel, how much you get back depends on the date.

Students check in with the Summer Springboard team at the front desk of NYU's Kimmel Center every day. Only NYU students, faculty, staff and the guests they sponsor can enter the building, and NYU's Campus Safety Department runs security. Summer Springboard runs its middle school program separately from its high school programs, with its own staff and a more structured environment.

Each program is led by a Campus Director and an Assistant Campus Director, both adults with degrees and experience working with teens, along with mentors, resident advisors and teaching assistants, and Summer Springboard says all staff go through background checks. Chaperones travel with students on the subway or buses to excursions. If a student is sick or hurt, staff take them to the nearest medical facility and tell the parents, but the family pays any costs. Students keep their own medication and take it themselves.

Students who complete the course get a completion certificate and a letter of recommendation from their instructor, although Summer Springboard can withhold both if a student breaks the code of conduct or doesn't take part. The main thing you'll actually have made is your team's mock investment portfolio and the stock pitch you gave to the guest judges. There's no college credit, since Summer Springboard offers credit only on its Cal Poly and NYSID programs.

Applications go through Summer Springboard's enrollment page, and admissions are rolling, with wave deadlines on 21 February and 18 April 2027, after which some programs close or move to a waitlist, and a final deadline of 16 May 2027.

1. 1

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

2. 2

   Start a new application and choose the NYU middle school campus, your session, this course and residential or commuter tuition.

3. 3

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

4. 4

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

5. 5

   Expect a decision within 5 to 7 business days, after which you complete further forms, including the code of conduct, waiver and medical consent.

6. 6

   For applications before 10 March 2027, pay the balance in three parts on 10 March, 10 April and 10 May 2027.