FAQ

Please refer to the following University of Minnesota website for up-to-date tuition and fees: CLICK.

There is a course fee that covers the costs of transportation, lodging, meals, and field supplies.

For specific questions, please contact One Stop Student Services at onestop@umn.edu.

While we do not offer scholarships directly, we encourage you to explore departmental and external field camp scholarship opportunities. Limited scholarship funds are available for UMNTC students to help offset expenses and may be applied for in the spring prior to course enrollment. One external scholarship opportunity is the scholarship established in honor of hydrogeology faculty at the University of Minnesota. https://www.mgwa.org/mgwa-foundation/field-camp-award/

We provide most of the gear you'll need at camp. Students stay in bunkhouses and should bring a pillow and blanket. A laptop is also required, but we can loan a Surface Pro for the duration of the camp. A detailed packing list will be provided upon registration or inquiry.

All meals are provided by Itasca Biological Station while we are at camp. All meals for the in person portion are included in the course fee.

The field site is ~50 minutes from Itasca. Students will walk to various wells at the site daily on relatively flat terrain. Many of the trails to the wells are on mowed grass. Ticks and mosquitos are present, but vary in intensity from year to year. Much of the field site is shaded, and once the pumps are running there are plenty of opportunities to cool off with well water. 

It is very dependent on how students manage their time, but most students find ample time to walk/run/bike on the many miles of trails in the park, get out on Lake Itasca, fish, play cards or games, and relax around a fire. 

Itasca has wifi in all of the public buildings. The student cabins can have spotty internet, but they are close to public buildings that have wifi. There is good cell reception at Itasca for almost all cell providers. Cell reception at the field site is spotty, but most providers can get some signal.