General Questions

A2: The conference begins with dinner followed by an evening all-conference gathering on Saturday, July 21. Check-In opens at 1:00pm on Saturday afternoon.

The conference ends immediately after breakfast on Friday, July 27, 2012. Checkout time is 10:00am on Friday morning.

Registration is open now and will close on May 21, 2012.

You must be paid in full before July 2, 2012 or your registration will be cancelled and any fees paid beyond the $50 non-refundable deposit and online payment convenience fee will be returned.

No refunds will be issued for cancellations received after July 2, 2012.

A3: July 2, 2012 is the last day you may cancel your registration and obtain a full refund less the non-refundable deposit of $50 and the 3% convenience fee if you made an online payment.

A4: The family discount is built in to the rooming fees being charged this year. If there were no discount, every person would pay $135 for lodging (shared occupancy), plus the fees for meals and the program. With the discount many families will pay considerably less for dorm suites and have the option of upgrading to a 2 or 3 bedroom lodge suite (limited availability, first-come, first-served).

A6: Anyone under the age of 18 who is attending without a parent must have a responsible party designated. This responsible party must agree to their role, which (in the event you have problems during the conference) could include providing you early transportation home. The responsible party must be in attendance at the conference for the entire time you are in attendance, and must be age 21 or older.

To register, you or your parents should fill in the registration form, either online or on paper. The financially responsible party (for example, your parents) is listed as the “contact person.” The responsible party attending the conference is listed in the appropriate blank. Your information is provided as “Person 1.”

Note: The responsible party must be registered before you (the minor) can register.

A7: No early arrivals or late departures can be accommodated. There are a variety of hotels and motels in the Marion, Indiana area. Check the Internet or with your travel agent if you need to arrange for accommodations before or after the conference.

If you’re a minor, the conference will not provide supervision outside the days your responsible person is in attendance. Your responsible person must be in attendance the entire time you attend.

A8: Fees generally are lower. The fee for a full-time adult in 2008 was $285; in 2012 the fee is $260 (assuming shared occupancy in the dorm at $135, plus $125 for meals and program). That is 9% less.

Those who can take advantage of the family discount will typically see a larger reduction. A married couple with two children sharing their dorm suite paid $970 in 2008, but will pay $831 in 2012 (14% less).

And it’s all air conditioned!

A9: Yes; please make this as a comment in the “Special Needs” area of your registration form. Explain why you’re asking. Also, note that some of the dorms at Indiana Wesleyan University are equipped with elevators.

If you need special equipment (such as a rented wheelchair) mention the special room requirements on your registration form (the registrars need to know), but also be sure to contact the appropriate people as discussed on the “Things to Know” page.

A10: No; if a child can’t sleep in a bed or doesn’t have a bed assigned, you’ll need to bring whatever they’ll sleep in, such as a portable crib or a sleeping bag.

A11: A married couple can register two ways.

The lower cost option is for both of you to select “Individual Person, Shared Occupancy” which would be $270 for two adults (plus meal and program fees). If you select that you’ll be in one half of a suite, and share the bathroom with whoever is on the other side. (Typically they’re very nice people).

For more privacy (at higher cost), you may also both select “Individual Person, Single Occupancy,” which would be $350 for two adults. In this way you’d each be reserving a room, so you would receive a two bedroom dorm suite and would not share the bathroom with anyone else.

A12: Yes, you may. It’s not guaranteed, but the registrars will try. Just fill it into the “Comments (roommate requests, suitemate requests)” area on the registration form. Please discuss this with the other couple in advance, and also have them fill out their registration form requesting you as suitemates.

A13: Yes, you may! It’s not guaranteed, but the registrars will try. Just fill the name into the “Comments (roommate requests, suitemate requests)” area of the registration form. If there are more than two of you who want to share a suite, pick each other as roommates and tell us who you’d like.

Please make sure you arrange this with the other people in advance, and have them request you as well.

A14: This is great, but it requires advance planning and communication. Please coordinate among yourselves, register for the conference as early as possible, and send an email to the registrars explaining what you want to do.

Key points to remember are:

• Start the process early.
• Communicate with the registrars. Email, write a letter – communicate!
• Be sure everyone involved registers for the conference early. Trying to add someone after groups of rooms have already been blocked out may not be possible.
• Be flexible! If the registrars are putting a several families together, they may not be able to accommodate requests such as family discounts, first floor rooms, and single occupancies. Feel free to ask, but realize that there are limits.
• Be aware that if a large family requests a three bedroom lodge suite and would like to be near their extended families who are mostly couples, you will probably not all be together. The lodge is expected to be used for larger families.

A15: Ask the registrars! We’ll try. Enter your request into the “Comments” area on the registration form, either online or on paper. Please discuss this with the other family in advance, and have them fill out their registration form similarly.

If you have a complicated request involving multiple families, everyone involved needs to register as early as possible, and provide as much detail as possible to the registrars.

A16: The lodges and the dorms are separate buildings, and in some cases across campus, so you may not be particularly close to each other.

A17: No. There are simply too many constraints to allow this to happen. The dorms are all nice, all air conditioned, and the registrars will do their best to match people with appropriate housing.

You are welcome to use the “comments” area on your registration form to make requests such as: “Please room us near family ____.” The registrars will try to accommodate such requests.

A18: You may, though note that no dishes, cookware, or utensils are provided. Also, you should leave the kitchen clean – nothing may be left in the refrigerator and all spills must be cleaned.

I’m requesting a lodge suite so I’ll have a refrigerator and microwave.

A19: No. Everyone staying on campus must pay for meals.

A20: The registrars will be reviewing and confirming every registration to be sure nothing is out of place, and they will email you to confirm the cost and your room types. Do the best you can to make housing choices, and write us a note on the registration form or email the registrars if you have specific uncertainties.

The online registration process gives more guidance than the paper form. The online system checks as you go to help avoid missing anything.

A21: This is very useful information for the registrars when we are assigning rooms. Without a birth date we can’t tell whether a single adult is college-aged or elderly.

We will not publish information about ages of adults, share it with anyone else, or use it beyond what we need for rooming and associated conference matters.

A22: The “contact person” on the registration form is the financially responsible party for everyone on that form; they’ll receive the bills, and they’ll receive communication for the people on the form.

In general, if you have a question, use multiple forms. Two adult singles who have different permanent addresses should fill out two forms.

If you are taking financial responsibility for someone – for example, if you are going to write the checks for your parents or your adult child, it’s OK to put them onto your form.

Note that registering on the same form does not automatically make you eligible for the family discount; that applies only to family members sharing the same permanent address.

A23: Indiana Wesleyan University has ample housing for our group, so we do not expect to turn away anyone who registers by May 21, 2012 and pays in full by July 2, 2012.

However, there are a limited number of lodge suites and four-bedroom dorm suites available. Those suites will be assigned to families on a first-come, first-served basis – so consider registering early.

A24: We will be finalizing lodging after registration closes on May 21, 2012. However we will be working on assignments starting in early 2012, as soon as we have final dorm availability information. You will be notified about any special requests as soon as we are able to finalize your assignments.

The Conference and IWU will be working together to determine exactly what housing we’ll have available, and we don’t expect that to be finalized until some time in the first quarter of 2012. Until then, we’ll be working on assumptions, and assigning rooms (and cutting off rooms) based on those assumptions. We’ll confirm whether you received your special request after that’s finalized.

A25: If we can’t accommodate your request we’ll notify you by email, letting you know what options you have or where we have assigned you. We will include costs for any options and work with you to find the best solution. You’ll have plenty of time to adjust your budgetary expectations, and final confirmation will happen well in advance of the July 2, 2012 cancellation date.

A26: Generally, people aged four and over must have a bed. That’s not inflexible – if doing so would place a young child in a room by themselves the registrars will work with you to find the best solution. There are some suites that can accommodate large families by allowing sleeping bags in the living room. Check with the registrars if you need to explore these options.

A27: This is perfectly acceptable as long as you have permission from the child’s parents or legal guardians, take responsibility for the child you bring, and note all this in the comments section of your registration form.

Your family will still qualify for the family rate on your suite. However, the friend that you bring will be charged an individual housing fee ($135) plus the appropriate meal and program fees.

You need to let the registrars know the child is not a member of your immediate family. Write about this in the “comments” field of the registration form (either online or paper).

If registering online, select one person (the friend) under “In a Family Suite, but Family Discount does not apply” in Step 3.

A28: Because he or she has a different permanent address than you, and so doesn’t qualify for Indiana Wesleyan University’s family discount policy.

A29: This practice has been common in the past, and we think it’s rather nice. However, it doesn’t meet Indiana Wesleyan University’s criteria for the family discount, so those who are mixed will be housed at the individual rate; in general you’ll pay more than you would with immediate families all together.

Note that the total fees are still less than 2008.

A30: The registrars will be reporting room assignments, on an individual room basis, to Indiana Wesleyan University, and we are required by contract to do so. Moving children around would mean those lists were incorrect, and it could create confusion in event of an emergency such as a fire.

It is against conference policy to change room assignments without arranging it in advance with the registrars.

A31: You may do this, but your parents would incur an additional rooming cost, assuming they have a different permanent address. They would not be included in price of the suite, and would each be billed at the “Individual Person, Shared Occupancy” rate.

Thus, if you shared a three bedroom lodge suite with your parents, the fees would be $500 for the lodge suite, plus 2 x $135 for your parents as two “extra” adults, for a total of $770 (plus program and meals).

If you register online, you have a choice of two ways to handle this:

• If your parents will be paying separately from your household, they should register separately from your family. The only selection they would make in Step 3 (Request Rooms) would be to select two people (themselves) under “In a Family Suite, but Family Discount does not apply,” and in “Rooming Instructions” state that they’ll be in a suite you’re reserving. On your form, the only reference to your parents would be under “Rooming instructions” where you should tell us that your parents will be in your suite, but are registering separately.
• If you want to pay your parents’ fees as part of your household, include your parents in the list of individuals you provide in Step 2. Then in Step 3, select both your family suite and two people (your parents) under “In a Family Suite, but Family Discount does not apply.” In “Rooming Instructions” tell us your parents have a different permanent address from the rest of you.

In any case, provide as much detail as possible to the registrars under “Rooming Instructions” of all associated registration forms.

A32: The family discount depends upon how many people with the same permanent address can be roomed in a single suite. There are several different suite sizes, generally distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Thus, a variation in your families’ ages, or the date you registered, can make a difference in your housing cost.

Even if you don’t qualify for a family discount and are housed individually, fees are lower than they were four years ago. We can all be grateful for Indiana Wesleyan’s low costs.

Of course, if you think there’s a mistake in your total fees, please email the registrars to inquire.

A33: Generally, no. The conference houses high school students together, with counselors, because we think that’s an important part of the experience. However, if a high school aged child has special needs or other circumstances apply please let the registrars know, so they can help you make the best rooming choices.

A34: Yes, everyone who has been born by the beginning of the conference will need to be registered. We need to account for everyone, both young and old. The $35 meal and program fee for that age group has been set appropriately low, and does need to be paid.

It’s your choice whether to include unborn children at the time you register or add them later. If you choose to include them on your form, you may use the name “Baby” and estimate their birth date. Either way, please email the registrars with the baby’s name, gender, and date of birth when you know the details.

And congratulations!

A35: If you registered online, this number was included in the confirmation email you should have received; it also was provided on the web site’s confirmation page (which showed after you pressed “Register!”).

If you registered using a paper form, the registrars will provide this number to you.

If you lose your Registration ID number or for some reason don’t have one, email the registrars with your name and address information and we can look it up.

A36: No, you don’t. When you register on-line you’ll receive an email with a unique identifier, your “Registration ID” number. Once you have that, you can split your payments up into multiple checks or online payments as you like. Do remember that you must pay at least $50 (non-refundable) before your registration will be considered active (so that must be paid before May 21, 2012), and you must be paid in full before July 2, 2012 or your registration is subject to cancellation.

A37: You may pay either by mailing a check, or online. Both methods are described below.

A38: Register on-line, and then write a check payable to “RP International” and mail it to Bruce & Kim Backensto, 3303 7th Ave, Beaver Falls, PA 15010. Include the “Registration ID” number which was provided when you registered and is in your confirmation email.

A40: This has nothing to do with the Conference, but we were warned about this by the online payment company.

It’s common for banks to set daily limits on debit card transactions, and it’s common for those limits to be similar to the amount of cash you can withdraw from an ATM – perhaps $250 per day. An attempt to spend more than that will result in a rejection, just as if you’d overspent your available cash – even though you have the money in your account.

Your choices are to call your bank in advance and set up a one-time increase, or to break the payment over several days – or to mail a check.

A41: The Conference is charged a fee for accepting online payments. The online payment option is offered as a convenience, and those who take advantage of that convenience pay the associated “convenience fee.”

When you make an online payment, the registrars will assess 3% as a fee. Thus, if you want to be credited for paying $50, you’ll need to pay $51.50. ($50 + 3% convenience fee.)

A42: No. The 3% convenience fee for online payment is non-refundable.

A43: Mailing a check to the registrars incurs lower fees, so for those who bank in US dollars, that’s generally recommended.

If you can’t write checks or are an international person, paying online may be preferable.

A44: Yes. Go ahead and register on-line, and then make a check payable to “RP International” and mail it to Bruce & Kim Backensto, 3303 7th Ave, Beaver Falls, PA 15010. Writing a check also avoids the “convenience fee” associated with online payment. Include the “Registration ID” number which was provided when you registered and is in your confirmation email.

A45: Yes, but not directly. You can use a credit card and make your payment online, and the money and the amount of your payment will be transferred to the registrars. Your credit card number is not sent to the Conference; security for that is handled by Authorize.Net

A46: We’re not in a position to directly accept currencies other than US dollars. However, you may pay online using a credit or debit card, which will accept all major currencies (including Japanese yen, UK pounds, and Euros) and make the conversion to US dollars. If that’s not practical, please email the registrars to discuss options such as wire transfers.