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Cost and Fees

Directly below are the costs and dues for initial accreditation. For the cost of renewal accreditation, click here. To skip to the information about the quarterly accreditation fees, click here.

Cost for Applying for and Receiving Initial Application

$100 for the Executive Director’s work leading up to Step 5 of the Initial-Accreditation process: $100

$50 for each assessor (not including the Executive Director) examining the application pack, prior to an on-site visit: $200

$300 for the Executive Director or level-4 assessor involved with the on-site visit: $300

Reimbursement of travel for the Executive Director or the level-4 assessor involved with the on-site visit (airfare, car rental, gas, lodging, meals): not to exceed $600

$50 for each assessor involved with the final vote (not including the Executive Director): $100

Sum of costs listed (assuming full travel expenses): $1,150

NOTE: We will not refund payments if an application is rejected along any steps of the accreditation process. However, we will make every effort to see that this does not happen by rigorously examining the application pack, ancillary documents (photos of classrooms, official transcripts of faculty members, etc.), and working at a distance with applicants if revision or resubmission of application material is necessary before an on-site visit so that, barring an unforeseen surprise during the on-site visit, we can be very strongly persuaded that accreditation will happen before we commence with the on-site visit.

NOTE: We will do our best to keep travel expenses to an absolute minimum, within reason. The cost ultimately depends upon the distance between the point of origin for the visiting assessor and the locale of the faculty group.

Cost for Applying for and Receiving Renewal Accreditation

$50 for the Executive Director’s examination of the recent internal-study report: $50

Reimbursement of travel for the Executive Director or the level-4 assessor involved in the on-site visit (airfare, car rental, gas, lodging, meals): not to exceed $600

If necessary, $0 for each assessor examining the changes in the faculty group and casting the final vote: $0

Maximum total cost: $650

NOTE: We will not refund payments if an application is rejected along any steps of the process to renew accreditation. However, we will make every effort to see that this does not happen by rigorously examining the internal study and working at a distance with applicants if revision or resubmission of this material is necessary before the on-site visit so that, barring an unforeseen surprise during the on-site visit, we can be very strongly persuaded that accreditation will be renewed before we commence with the on-site visit.

Annual Accreditation Fee

The accreditation fees are paid by individual students in the faculty-school system. Every student must pay a flat fee of $125 every academic year. Our academic year starts on August 11th and extends all the way to August 10th of the next calendar year.

This fee is divided between OLEF ($100) and COFSA, the Council of Oversight for Faculty School Accreditation ($25). Of OLEF's share, there is a further 20% sequestered portion of this fee that is kept outside OLEF's working budget. This is to allow OLEF to disaccredit any school without having its working budget affected. All funds in this reserve are converted to student grants at the end of every academic year.

The Council Oversight for Faculty School Accreditation (COFSA), which is the recognition agency of the faculty-school system, uses its portion to pay for its directors and advisors and to fund the system's annual conference. There is a 20% sequestered portion of this revenue that is kept outside COFSA's working budget. This is to allow COFSA to reverse its recognition of any faculty-school accreditation agency without having its working budget affected. All funds in this reserve are converted to student grants at the end of every academic year.

When a student pays the fee using the button below, the payment itself goes to OLEF's account, but the notification of the payment also forwards to COFSA's email box. COFSA then uses this information to make a true enrollment count of students involved with faculty schools for the current academic year. COFSA also uses this information to oversee the allocation of funds between the accreditation agency and itself, the recognition agency.