I do not understand why a program would demand that insane sum of money in one payment

You're paying for lodging, some of your meals, transportation while at the forum, and for the people working for the forum. None of that is cheap

I thought since you'll nominated us students you'll would pay for everything exept our round ticket back and forward from our homes.

If that was the case, the program could not continue to run, because it would run out of money. Although it may be expensive, the tuition money you pay will provide you with amazing experiences!

monarchsfan16 is correct. Most of the cost is paying for premium lodging, an overabundance of premium-priced meals, and the costs of lodging and feeding the program administrators. (For example, I saw a set-up order for breakfast, listing the cost as $7 a person. When I asked, she said most participants only nibbled - it wasn't their style of food.)

We have not returned to NYLF because they were not careful with my money. My student received a comparable educational opportunity at another forum (ACSI) for a fraction of the cost.

Mike indicated that better instruction was received through ACSI. What is this?

I'm not sure if I'm going yet but I bet if you go and put together the charges of what it would cost to do all the same things that you do you would find that it would be a lot more. I know that I went to Australia with People to People in 2002 and the program cost was $5,000 I thought that was a lot so we added up what it would cost for a ticket transportation food and the hotels and we would have paid twice as much if I had not gone with People to People and it was worth every penny of it. Plus if it is anything like my trip where we were considered ambassadors, as a result we stayed in 4 and 5 star hotels and ate gourmet meals every night.

exactly, i try to think of it more as an investment