Fees & Financial Aid
Cost Breakdown
The total cost for the 2025 Expedition will be between $12,000 and $13,500.
There are three distinct parts of JIRP costs. Field fees are paid directly to JIRP’s parent nonprofit, the Foundation for Glacier & Environmental Research. Tuition is paid directly to one of our university partners. Other expenses are miscellaneous expenses such as travel and gear, which are paid to third-party vendors and are not included in this estimate.
Field Fees
Field fees will be between $11,500 and $12,100 for the 2025 Expedition.
This field fee covers a portion of the costs of operating on the Icefield for six weeks and in Juneau/Atlin for two weeks:
Food: All meals and snacks, accommodating most dietary needs. Please contact our staff directly at office@juneauicefield.org if you have a severe food allergy. We cannot accommodate anaphylactic peanut allergies.
Lodging: Use of permanent field camps and 4-season tents.
Alpine Skills & Academic Instruction: Hands-on training in glacier travel, crevasse rescue, and in-depth mentorship from expert scientists.
Logistic Support & Fuel: Communication (radio/satellite phone), delivery of food/supplies, generator/propane/snow machine fuel, and camp maintenance.
Transportation: All travel (bus, ferry, boat) in and between Atlin, Skagway, and Juneau during the program.
Group Gear & Insurance: Use of camp facilities, scientific equipment, and alpine safety group gear (ropes, stoves, snow pickets, etc.).
Supplies: One field notebook and one fashionable JIRP t-shirt.
Tuition
Tuition will be between $500 and $1000, depending on your visa status and residency. Tuition covers six upper-division Earth and environmental science credits and is paid directly to one of our partner universities:
If you are a US citizen or an international student with a student visa to study in the United States, you will enroll at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The cost of enrollment is approximately $1000.
If you are a US citizen or an international student with a US student visa AND you are a resident of the state of Alaska, you qualify for in-state tuition through the University of Alaska Southeast. The cost of enrollment is approximately $500.
If you are NOT a US citizen and you do not have a US student visa, you will not be able to receive academic credit for JIRP, although we still welcome your application and participation. Your citizenship and visa status will not impact your application or your JIRP experience. You will be expected to complete the same academic program as enrolled students.
Other Expenses
Outside of the tuition and field fees, participants are responsible for the following:
Travel to and from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (by plane or car) or Skagway, Alaska (by ferry). JIRP will provide transport to our facility in Atlin, British Columbia for Orientation.
Personal ski mountaineering and general backcountry equipment: This equipment, detailed on the Gear List page, includes field clothing, backpack, sleeping bag, ice axe, and backcountry skis and boots.
Health Insurance and/or Travel Insurance: The cost of maintaining your personal health insurance to cover any medical care required as a result of an injury sustained during the program.
Pre- and Post-Program Housing/Meals: All expenses (lodging, food, etc.) for any time spent in Juneau or Whitehorse before or after the official program dates. Participants cannot be accommodated at JIRP facilities during staff training and closing.
How do I afford JIRP?
This is the question most people ask as they’re completing their application. JIRP is a nonprofit, and despite our generous donors, it costs a lot of money to provide food, medical care, academics, and logistic and field support to 32 students living in the backcountry for eight weeks. We work hard to keep fees manageable. We also rely on over 6,000 volunteer hours annually from faculty and staff to make the field season run productively.
We offer scholarships through the Joan W. Miller Fund, and we are excited to help students apply for outside funding. We're actively pursuing additional funding to lower field fees and reduce barriers to entry.
Joan W. Miller Scholarship Fund
Joan Walsh Miller was the logistics mastermind behind JIRP for decades. She supported more than 1,500 students and 400 associated faculty and staff during her involvement with the program. In 2013, JIRP launched the Joan W. Miller Scholarship Fund to support incoming students. We are grateful to generous alumni and donors who support this fund in Joan’s name.
Scholarship Application Information
JIRP awards several partial scholarships through the Joan W. Miller Fund. Scholarships are awarded regardless of national origin, citizenship status, and academic enrollment status. Applying for financial aid will have no bearing on your acceptance to the program. JIRP may accept your application to be a student, but not be able to provide you with the financial support you require. In an effort to support as many students as possible, the maximum award is $3000 per student.
Decisions about financial aid will be delivered concurrently with acceptance into the academic program. If you have any questions about the Scholarship Application, please contact our staff at office@juneauicefield.org.
Scholarship Deadline: December 31, 2025 at midnight Alaska Standard time.
Outside Financial Aid and Support
We strongly encourage students to investigate funding options from their home institutions, outside organizations (like Rotary), and personal networks. We recognize that funding is critical for many, and we're working to allow students to apply to existing home institution financial aid toward both tuition and the field fee.
JIRP can offer support for students seeking external funds:
We're happy to write letters of support for grants/scholarships.
We can defer enrollment for a year to allow you time to apply for funding.
We maintain a list of potential scholarships and funding opportunities that is updated yearly. Click the button below to open the spreadsheet.