Financial Aid & Payment

Navigate the drop drown menu below to learn more about financial aid and payment information.

  • We can accommodate payment plans (for example, spreading your tuition payments out over three installments) if you find that paying your tuition in one lump sum is impossible.

    Reach out to sara@svconnections.org to discuss.

  • If you receive federal aid, chances are good that you can transfer that financial aid to cover the cost of our tuition. The process for accomplishing this is outlined below.

    Many universities, including the University of Montana, will allow you to transfer your federal financial aid to cover the costs of our field programs. This process is called a consortium agreement. Some universities will NOT allow consortiums; check with your school's financial aid office to find out.

    Directions: Request consortium agreement paperwork from your Financial Aid office. You will see that it requires several signatures, typically from your advisor and from our office. The first thing you need to do is get your advisor’s signature, which will undoubtedly require you to submit our syllabi for their approval. Please request our syllabi if you have not already been sent them.  

    Once your advisor has signed the document, mail it to us for our signature. We will provide a breakdown of tuition, room & board, books, and associated fees. Depending on your particular school's consortium paperwork, you may need to further get signatures from your own financial aid office.

    If you happen to be a University of Montana student, the UM financial aid office will need to sign. The consortium form usually asks for the name of the "Host Institution." If you are currently enrolled at the University of Montana, you will enter "Swan Valley Connections" under Host. If you are a student at any other university, you will enter "University of Montana" as the Host Institution.

    This process can take as little as a week or as long as a month, depending on the time frame at financial aid and your organizational skills. You will also need to fill out the FAFSA as early as possible to expedite this process.

    For current UM students, the best person in the Financial Aid office to contact is Holly Kulish, (406)243-4168 or Holly.Kulish@mso.umt.edu,  who handles consortium agreements.

    If your school does not do Consortium Agreements, and you do receive federal financial aid, you may want to find out whether you can apply for an "In School Deferment." This form shows that you were in school with Swan Valley Connections, so that your loans do not come due unexpectedly.

  • We accept Americorps Segal Education Award vouchers and Montgomery/Post9/11 GI Bill®* education awards. If you are eligible for either of these options and intend to use them for tuition, please let us know as soon as possible because processing of these awards can take some time. While Swan Valley Connections is not itself a Title IV school, our courses are offered for credit through the University of Montana, with credits being processed through UM's School of Extended and Lifelong Learning.

    *GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government Web site at https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill

  • A $500 non-refundable registration deposit, due within two weeks of your acceptance, is required to reserve your enrollment in the program. The remainder of your tuition is due in two equal payments, which we will schedule based upon the date of your acceptance, with the second and final payment due no later than April 19th.

    Deposit and tuition payments can be made to Swan Valley Connections either via personal check, money order or online via credit card. Note to international students: deposit and tuition payments are to be made in U.S. funds.

    PAY TUITION ONLINE

    An additional 3% transaction fee will be added to tuition payments made via credit card.

    If you prefer to pay your tuition by check or money order, please make the check/money order out to Swan Valley Connections, note the applicant's name in the memo section and mail to us at the following address:

    Swan Valley Connections
6887 MT Highway 83
Condon, MT 59826-9005

    Call us with questions at 406.754.3137.

    * SVC reserves the right to cancel the course due to insufficient enrollment. In the unlikely event of such a cancellation, SVC will notify students no later than two months prior to the beginning of their program and students shall be entitled to a full refund of all monies paid.

“Growing up, I always knew I was deeply infatuated with the natural world; however, my knowledge was limited only to that of what I had taught myself by spending time outside or researching. Through my time spent with SVC, I have been able to deepen this fervent love of the natural world into something that can deeply impact my community and future trajectory through my proposed career path.”

— Brighid Doll, Wildlife in the West ‘23