Journey through the Universe l Program Overview

Given the wide range of program options available to a community, program cost can only be calculated after a Journey program is customized to a community’s strategic needs and projected audiences. Costs are calculated on a strictly cost recovery basis, and fully detailed budgets are submitted to a community as part of a customized proposal package. We can help you identify organizations in your area that might be interested in underwriting the program.

Below are tables that provide some working examples of Journey programs and estimated costs. The tables boil the program down to the basic numbers. To get a sense of how these numbers translate to experiences community-wide, click on the photo.

Remember these are just cost estimates for some very specific program examples. There is a great deal of room for customization of both program scope and cost. We’re here to help you figure out a program that’s right for your community.

Table 1 below provides two examples for a complete Journey through the Universe Week model, where a National Team is sent in to conduct all three program components: Professional Development, Classroom Visits, and Family and Public Programs. In terms of cost, this is the best way to package programming given it minimizes the number of trips to the community.

Table 1 Example A:
A National Team of 3 Visiting Researchers and 1 Visiting Educator conducts 66 Classroom Visit presentations for up to 5,000 students, at least 2 Family and Public Programs, a full day workshop for 60 teachers, and lesson packages are provided for all workshop attendees. The estimated cost is $47,600 (Example A2).

This assumes, however, that the Center produces the lesson packages for the workshop attendees. Example A1 assumes the community produces the 60 packages required, which decreases the cost to $45,100.

Table 1 Example B:
A Team of 5 Visiting Researchers and 1 Visiting Educator conducts 116 Classroom Visit presentations for nearly 9,000 students, at least 2 Family and Public Programs (there is virtually no added cost to increase this number), a full day workshop for the community’s Master Science Teachers, and a full day workshop for 120 educators. The estimated cost is $57,900 if the community produces the 140 lesson packages (Example B1), and $63,700 if the Center produces the packages (Example B2).

Separating Professional Development Costs Out

A community will often want the Professional Development at a different time than when the National Team is in the community for Classroom Visits and Family and Public Programs. Or a community may want to cost out a series of professional development workshops through the year. We’ve therefore provided examples of National Team delivery of Classroom Visits together with Family and Public Programming in Table 2, and separately in Table 3 are examples of Professional Development workshop programs. This allows you to build a Journey program by combining different program ‘modules’.