Once again, Beth, Lane and I will be heading to Elkins, WV in July for the Augusta Irish Week. As in the last two years, we are putting a group together in order to qualify for the group discount. Here are the rules for the group discount:
Please contact me via PM if you’re interested. I’d like to move pretty soon on this in order to take advantage of cheaper airfare rates, so the cut-off to get in the group will be Tuesday, March 24, at 10:00 PM Central. If you’re in another time zone, then you can do the math. This is a great opportunity to save a buck or two. Last year, the combined savings from the discount and early airfare discounts more than paid for our rental car, a midsize with power everything from the airport in Baltimore.
Disclaimer: I don’t work for the folks in West Virginia, and I don’t get anything from them if this goes through, other than the posted discount. I’m just a sucker for a bargain
I think Kevin Crawford’s teaching flute again this year. He’s great. The more I listen to this music, the more I appreciate the tunes and settings he gave us. They pop up in the repertoires of all kinds of great players on a variety of instruments; really top-notch stuff.
There are two of us going to Augusta for the first time this year (we’ve been going to East Durham IAW instead) and I’m curious how the group discount works. Does your post mean that we have to register and pay tuition by March 24?
The way that the discount works is outlined in the my first post, but basically, whenever a group decides to register, all of the registrations have to be submitted the same day, and with the same group name in the registration. Four in a group will get you $50 off each. Seven or more will get you $70 off each. I decided on March 24, because we wanted to make sure that the classes that we are taking won’t be filled up.
I realize that I spouted some gibberish about early registration saving us money on airfare. Obviously there’s NO connection between Davis & Elkins College and the airline of your choice. While it’s true that booking airfare early can be cheaper, it has no impact on tuition costs. Mark that statement up to inherited insanity in my family.
As for the tuition part, according to the registration form, here, at the bottom of the fee schedule on the right side, they’re requiring full tuition payment when you register. As I recall, we’ve done it this way in the past. It’s possible that I may push the deadline back since as of today (3/17/09), they still don’t have their room and board rates posted, here. Obviously, nobody’s likely to agree to something without knowing the price.
On the other hand, they won’t let you pay all of your housing and meals until you get there anyway. All you can do housing-wise at this point is pay a $25 reservation fee.
So based on that, if you signed up for the Irish Week that’d be $440 = $25 = $465. Then if you were in a small group, that’d take off $50, bringing it down to $415. If you were in a large group it’d drop by another $20, to $395, which would be due when you registered.
… AND I see John Skelton’s going to be wrangling the ceili band! That’s worth the price of admission right there. Especially if Kevin Crawford shows up to offer his friendly support.
I spoke with Jeremy today at Augusta, and I got the room and meals pricing, even though it’s not on the website. Housing will be $374.00, based on double occupancy rooms, and will include 17 meals. That’s Sunday dinner through Saturday breakfast. You’ll pay $25 of that as a deposit when you register, and the remaining $349 when you get there.
I also asked him whether there were any classes filling up yet, and he said no, and that the rush doesn’t start until after the catalogs are mailed out, which should be in about two weeks. Based on this information and the number of folks we have in the group so far (six. Thanks Bill!), I’m extending the deadline to get in the group until March 31, at 10:00 pm. central Sorry that I was tardy in getting this information posted. I’ll try to do better in the future.
Remember, if we get one more person in the group, we’ll all qualify for a $70 discount off of the tuition, instead of the $50 that we get now.
We now have seven members in the group, which qualifies each member to the $70 discount. If you’d like to go to the Augusta Irish week and want to get $70 off of your tuition, then please contact me (PM only please, my spam blocker is wickedly efficient) before 10:00 PM Central tomorrow night (March 31, 2009).
The more I listen to this music, the more I appreciate the tunes and settings he gave us. They pop up in the repertoires of all kinds of great players on a variety of instruments; really top-notch stuff.
Ack! And now I see Cillian Vallely’s teaching pipes. Looks like a grand week.
Especially if Kevin Crawford shows up to offer his friendly support.