If a student was nominated for the Joseph Baldwin Academy by their counselor or principal the previous year but they did not apply, they must qualify for nomination again and be nominated by their school counselor or principal.

You do not need to be re-nominated. We will automatically send former students applications, however, it must be fully completed each year to attend.

Having attended JBA in a previous year does not guarantee admission in a subsequent year.  While many repeating applicants do attend multiple years, faculty make the final determination of who is qualified to participate in their class, and most of our classes have far greater demand than they have seats.

Each application is reviewed on its merits (test scores, essays, academic history) without regard to prior attendance, family legacy at the Academy or the University, or relationship to University students or employees.

Distinguished nominees who are certified as eligible for the final selection process will receive notification in October of their Distinguished Nominee designation, as well as information and application materials for the Joseph Baldwin Academy. Final selection as one of the JBA scholars is based on:

• application information
• a complete school transcript or grade cards (two years)
• a recommendation from a current teacher (filled out digitally)

JBA applicants do not need to take the ACT.

Applications accepted by the priority due date will be reviewed first.  Applications received by the deadline, will be reviewed next.  After that deadline, we will review any further applications received if spaces are available.

The Academy attempts to place students in their first class choice, but some classes have more applicants than seats available. Once the JBA Office reviews all materials by students, a roster is presented to the instructor for each class.  They too will review student files and determine whether an applicant would be able to be successful in their course by considering such factors as the student’s school transcript, essay responses, letter of recommendation, and, if applicable, their previous work at the Academy.

After each instructor has reviewed all of his/her applications and chosen his/her students, we will notify the students via mail around early March of acceptance to the Academy.

The Welcome Guide for the previous year is available to review for information about all questions you may have.  In late spring, we will post the Welcome Guide for the upcoming sessions.  It contains information and a schedule about check-in/check-out at the Academy and information on some of the services that JBA and the University will provide.

Please refer to the Welcome Guide for instructions on arrival and departure days.

The Joseph Baldwin Academy is now all-inclusive for everything needed for your courses.  You will not have to purchase course packs or books—they will be provided.

The Joseph Baldwin Academy generally does not offer credit for courses completed.

For students seeking middle school or high school credit, students and their parents may be able to negotiate with their local school officials for credit or advanced placement. Formal college credit is only offered to students in the college-level mathematics course that JBA offers.  This course includes outcome assessments that parallel two existing Truman courses.  That course, however, does not require students to complete work for credit in order to participate.

We often get asked why we don’t offer more courses for college credit.  One  important reason is that contemporary accreditation standards for granting college credit to secondary school students imposes significant limitations on the structure for credit-bearing courses, requiring the experience to be virtually identical to a regular semester college course.  For most subjects, it would be a logistical impossibility to meet those standards within a three-week program and still make the experiences fun.  Plus, part of the JBA experience involves active learning outside of the classroom.  Many of these truly enriching experiences would need to be sacrificed to allow for the exams, term papers, projects, and extensive study time needed to meet this standard.  Additionally, an important part of our curriculum is the unique interdisciplinary nature of our courses.  Some of our most fascinating courses don’t have easy equivalents in the typical college catalog and would be difficult to transfer.

Fundamentally, we believe students come to JBA not to achieve a grade or even to earn credit. Instead they come to be stretched academically, to grow socially, and to experience the joy of learning for learning’s sake without the psychological pressure that comes with having to make sure the first class on their college transcript is an A!

There is a computer lab available in the library for use during free time and computer labs needed for class work will be provided on campus as well.  Students may also bring computers or laptops to campus, however, they will be actively engaged throughout the day and will rarely have the opportunity to engage in any computer-based work outside of that conducted in labs or structured group work.

The dining services on campus offer a wide selection of food at every meal, and their menus are varied enough to accommodate vegan, vegetarian, and other diets. If your student requires other special dietary needs or has food allergies, please contact us at least two weeks before you arrive so that we can plan for this and notify food services.  You may view information provided by our dining services, Sodexo here: Truman State University Sodexo.

Families can make roommate requests by filling out the Roommate Request on the academy acceptance form. BOTH students must complete the form for the request to be granted.  Students will be given room assignments when they check in. Most students are assigned to double rooms, but we cannot guarantee a particular housing arrangement to any student. To the extent possible, students are assigned roommates of a similar age. Students will share a bathroom with the connecting same gender room.

We support any student who wants to attend religious services and will provide transportation to and from local religious services with a staff member. Sign-up for these services will occur during the week prior to the services on a week-to-week basis. It is important that students with this interest remember to sign up in advance as prior planning is required to coordinate travel to different services at different times.

All student medications must be turned in to the Health & Wellness Director upon check-in. The Health & Wellness Director will supervise students bringing medications. These include prescriptions and over-the-counter medicine such as Tylenol, allergy medicine, and cold medicine. NO medications are allowed to be kept in student rooms (with the exceptions of inhalers, epi-pens, and similar rescue medications, which shall be approved on a case-by-case basis).

Students must self-administer the medication, as directed by the parent or physician, and the Health & Wellness Director will log all medications taken. We do make available, upon request by the student, common over-the-counter medications in the Med Room. Parents are strongly advised to note any allergies or potential drug interactions with prescribed medications on their child’s medical form. In addition, parents are urged to have a conversation with their children  before they come to JBA  about any over-the-counter medications they feel comfortable/uncomfortable with their child selecting.

Exception: Parents may authorize their children to retain maintenance medications, provided the medications have no potential for abuse, and missed or discontinued dosages present no risk. Written authorization from the student’s physician and parents is required.

The Academy has made arrangements with a local physician to care for its students. Whenever possible, the Health & Wellness Director will contact parents before the Academy takes their child to the physician; however, sometimes this notification may occur afterward.

Emergency medical service is available at a Kirksville hospital. All students must submit medical history forms and a copy of their health insurance card, which the Health & Wellness Director will keep on file. Students will be responsible for any co-payment at the doctor’s office, hospital, or pharmacy at the time of the service. Those students with long-standing medical conditions should request their physician forward relevant information to the Joseph Baldwin Academy.

There are limited flights between Chicago and Kirksville Regional Airport via Contour Airlines.  If you elect to come directly to Kirksville by plane, be advised that a connection must be made in Chicago.  While we are great fans of the Contour Airline service, and patrons may wish to consider it, parents will want to discuss logistics with their children if they are inexperienced fliers.  Contour charges a fee each way, over and above the cost of your flight to Chicago, to reach Kirksville. Staff members of JBA will meet you at the security checkpoint of your arrival gate.

The first tuition payment is a minimum amount to secure your place and will be provided in your application materials and will be provided in your acceptance email.  If your student is awarded a scholarship, we require that you make that initial minimum payment, with your scholarship being applied to your remaining balance.

Your total amount due must be paid in full prior to check-in day — review dates for that year on our payment page.

Please reach out about any challenges you may have for payments.  However, we must have your tuition paid in full no later than three weeks before the Academy for your student to be allowed to move in.  We are unable to accept any tuition as of move-in day.

You may pay by credit card (we accept all major credit cards) or electronic check online.  If you are unable to pay with one of these options, we can accept a *check or *money order – payable to the Joseph Baldwin Academy.  Please include your student’s name and Banner ID# (student ID number) in the memo section.  Your final payment via a check must be received in our office three weeks prior to the arrival date to allow for processing.  We recommend sending any final paper check payments a minimum of four weeks prior to arrival to allow for mail delivery time.

Mail to:

Truman State University
Business Office
100 E Normal
McClain Hall 105
Kirksville, MO 63501

***Reminder: Your payment by check must be received in our office no later than the first deadline to secure your place and no later than three weeks prior to move-in day.  Again, payments must be received and processed PRIOR to a student arriving on campus.  To ensure your payment was received and processed, you may check your student’s account to ensure the payment has been applied.