Opening Fall 2020

Most colleges and universities teach the Liberal Arts. But few colleges and universities approach them the way we do at Thales College. Every faculty member at Thales College is an expert in the Liberal Arts as well as an expert teacher. Our faculty teach courses together, so that you will experience how knowledge is linked across the disciplines. You will learn from them in small seminars, and in one-on-one mentoring sessions. And your learning in those settings will be expanded by online content from the best minds in the world. Together, online courses, seminars, and mentorship will provide you with the richest possible environment for learning the Liberal Arts. When combined with an internship or work experience, you will quickly develop a wealth of knowledge and skills that will thoroughly prepare you to succeed in the real world.

Our commitment to the Liberal Arts, to a particular way of learning, and to affordability mean that Thales College is unlike any other college. We are focused solely on your education, and your college experience is focused solely on learning. We help you maintain a disciplined study and a balanced life, and promise you a quality education from a distinctive college that will set you apart from your peers.

Thales College will offer a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree with a variety of concentration options.

Thales College will be authorized to award degrees by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

Thales College is an accelerated degree program. Students will earn a standard (traditionally 4-year) Bachelor’s degree in 3 years.

Yes! Each student will receive seven weeks off per year, spread between each semester and over holidays.

Tuition at Thales College is $4,000/term, or $32,000 total ($4,000 x 8 terms = $32,000).

Put another way, you can earn an entire bachelor’s degree at Thales College for less than the cost of a single year at a typical private college. And because you will complete your degree in less than three years at Thales College, you will enter the workforce a year earlier than students who attend traditional colleges and universities. That means you will begin working, earning, and contributing to your community far before the average student completes their degree.

Why $4,000/term? This is the inflation adjusted amount our founder, Bob Luddy, paid for his college education in the ‘60s. By working through school, Bob was able to graduate debt free, an accomplishment most students only dream of today. At Thales College, we believe a post-secondary education should be within reach for every student. For this reason, we are committed to maintaining a rate comparable to the cost of college decades ago.

Source: studentdebtrelief.us. Figures based on two semesters of tuition in the 2017-18 school year.

Additional expenses will include: Books, transportation and living expenses, technology expenses (all students are required to own a laptop computer and have access to WiFi in order to participate in online coursework).

Note: Thales College is in the process of being licensed to operate by the UNC Board of Governors. Any fees and tuition collected are 100% refundable until approval is granted by the Board.

At this time, scholarships are not available and government loans and grants are not accepted by Thales College. However, external scholarships from non-governmental organizations are accepted. By streamlining operating costs and making our tuition as affordable as possible, all students should be able to pay for tuition by maintaining a part-time job or internship throughout their college career. 

We believe internships provide a wealth of experience for students as they prepare to enter the real world beyond graduation. As a result, all Thales College students are encouraged to seek out internships and gain work experience. Interning provides students with a paycheck, an opportunity to learn more about their field of interest, real world preparation for life after college, and the opportunity to network and secure a job following graduation. Thales College makes it possible for students to achieve this goal by keeping all afternoons free of any commitments (making afternoon internships possible).

Applicants will be reviewed by the following factors: application, essays, personal interview, SAT/ACT score (minimum 1100 SAT, 22 ACT required for admission), high school transcript (minimum 3.25 GPA required for admission), previous school or employer recommendation.

Candidates with a high likelihood of success in the program will be selected for admission.

A typical week at Thales College will include online video lectures by experts in the subject matter as well as written assignments and readings, all completed at your own pace and on your own time. Course topics will cover a wide range of Liberal Arts studies, including philosophy, history, literature, economics, politics and others. For 2,500 years, the Liberal Arts Tradition has enabled people to think, create, lead, succeed, and—most importantly—to understand themselves and their society. A Liberal Arts education opens this door, and fosters a lifetime of continuous learning.

Each morning, Monday through Friday, students will attend Socratic seminar sessions on campus that allow participants to breakdown texts and concepts and discuss major themes. These group discussion-based seminars will foster critical thinking skills and allow students to begin forming skills that will benefit their reasoning abilities for decades to come. The collaborative nature of the seminar sessions will ensure that no student is bored or uninvolved in the learning process. Learn more about the Socratic Method of group discussion here.

One to two times per week, each student will meet one-on-one with a professor for a comprehensive mentoring session, modeled after the Oxford Tutorial method, allowing students to dive deeper into subject content and grasp ideas at a higher and more holistic level. This personalized form of learning pushes students to excel and provides the opportunity to connect abstract ideas to the real world. Learn more about the Oxford Tutorial method here.

Remaining time in the morning will be set aside for independent study, and afternoons will be free to allow students to take advantage of internships or other work experiences. If students capitalize on the opportunity to earn a paycheck during this time, students should be able to pay their way through college without taking on any debt.

Students will participate in this schedule year round (fall, spring, and summer terms separated by short breaks), to allow for graduation in just three years.

Thales College is located at 3122 Heritage Trade Drive, Wake Forest, NC.

No, Thales College is a non-residential school. All students will be expected to find housing on their own. This allows us to keep operating costs low and gives students the freedom to choose the best housing option for their needs.

Due to the many challenges and drawbacks associated with accreditation, Thales College actively chooses not to pursue accreditation. Paraphrased below is economist Dr. Richard Vedder's reasoning for why accreditation is actually a negative to the student rather than a positive.

1. Accreditation is unbelievably complex - there is not one or even a handful of accrediting agencies but literally hundreds. For example, instead of a single organization providing general accreditation of institutions, there are six regional accrediting groups, each with its own set of evaluation criteria. And there are a myriad of agencies doing accreditation of specific subjects; everything from engineering and business to education and physical therapy.
2. The system is costly. Schools spend millions gathering data, preparing reports, and hosting visits of academics and administrators who make assessments. Many schools have full-time high-priced administrators just to oversee accreditation matters (which translates to higher tuition bills for students).
3. The system is excessively secretive and non-transparent, with full accreditation reports often not made public. A school may receive overall accreditation but in the detailed report, it is heavily criticized for weaknesses in, for example, its undergraduate advising. The public often only hears "XYZ University was accredited.”
4. Related to the previous point, the often limited press releases about accreditation reports do not provide much useful information to consumers, and it is extremely rare for a school to lose accreditation.
5. Accreditation is binary in nature – it is like pregnancy. You either are or are not accredited. Harvard has the same accreditation as Mount Ida College, a soon-to-be-defunct school (taken over by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst) located just nine miles away. Yet those schools are worlds apart qualitatively by any rational criteria.
6. There are horrendous conflicts of interest involved with accreditation that would be flatly prohibited in most other areas of human endeavor. The accrediting organizations are typically controlled by representatives of those schools being accredited.
7. Historically, evaluations of schools have emphasized inputs or resource usage rather than all-important outcomes. Who cares how many books are in the library or what percentage of professors have doctorates if the students are learning and preparing for life after college?
8. Accreditation is something of a cartel arrangement, serving as a barrier to new college competitors and new ways of doing things (including accrediting courses instead of institutions). Innovative approaches to learning are sometimes stifled.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardvedder/2018/06/04/needed-drastic-reform-elimination-of-accreditation/#5549a51b93bd

All Thales College faculty members hold PhDs in philosophy, literature, history, political philosophy, and economics. They are devoted to the Liberal Arts Tradition and to passing on its value through tutorial and seminar instruction, scholarship, writing and public speaking. Most are seasoned instructors with many years of experience at other institutions of higher education.

Yes, please send your CV to Tim Hall at tim.hall@thalescollege.org