Have Questions?

LAU is a tuition-free, public online charter school serving students in grades 6-12 statewide in Utah. Our program is built on the award-winning Williamsburg Curriculum and emphasizes leadership, the liberal arts, and adventures, preparing students to lead meaningful lives in our fast-changing world.

Williamsburg Learning is the education services provider behind the award-winning Williamsburg Curriculum. LAU partners with Williamsburg Learning to make the Williamsburg Curriculum available to Utah students tuition-free.

The Williamsburg Curriculum makes up the bulk of LAU’s overall academic program, in addition to LAU-exclusive offerings like Funded Approved Vendor Electives (FAVE) and our early college partnerships with Utah Tech University, University of Utah, and Brigham Young University - Idaho.

In our engaging live-online classes, LAU students meet and interact with students at other Williamsburg Learning schools, including Williamsburg Academy Private School , Williamsburg Academy Public Education Partners , and Williamsburg Academy of Colorado .

We currently serve grades 6-12.

Nope! We are publicly funded so tuition is $0 (including all books and supplies, and a school laptop with built-in online safety software).

Parents are responsible for providing high-speed internet.

See our Fee Schedule page for other non-LAU fees that may apply to your student e.g. purchasing a graduation cap and gown and fees associated with our Early College and Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs.

Our office is located in Clearfield, but our students live all over the state. LAU students can attend our live-online classes from anywhere with an internet connection, and our in-person Adventure Fridays courses are held in various counties throughout Utah.

Yes. LAU is accredited by Cognia  and the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC ). All credit earned at LAU is recognized by all other schools accredited by Cognia and ACS WASC, and most other accredited schools. More information can be found on our Accreditation page.

Yes. All of our live-online core courses are approved by the NCAA, so your student can work towards Division I or Division II eligibility while attending our school. Please see our NCAA Accreditation page for a complete list of approved courses and additional eligibility requirements.

LAU does not affiliate with or support any faith, church, or religion. Our students come from a variety of religious and political backgrounds. We remain neutral and build a safe environment where students are free to be themselves, learn from each other, and share their ideas and beliefs in respectful ways.

While LAU is an online school accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, LAU students are required to be official residents of Utah. If you’re unsure if your student meets this requirement, please review the following scenarios:

• If your student lives with you in a Utah residence, and your student spends the majority of their time in that residence, and you can provide all the documentation as required during the admissions process, then your student is eligible to attend LAU.
• If your family’s primary residence is in Utah and you can provide all of the required documentation during the admissions process, but your family is currently living outside of the country on a temporary humanitarian or extended learning vacation (and you have a concrete date of return), then your student is eligible to attend LAU.
• If one parent/guardian lives in Utah and can provide all the required documentation during the admissions process, but your student spends the majority of their time with a different parent/guardian in a different state, your student is not eligible to attend LAU, regardless of their educational status (i.e. even if your student is homeschooled and does not attend an out-of-state public school).
• If you have a second home in Utah and can provide all of the documentation required during the admissions process, but your student and family spend the majority of your time in a different state, then your student is not eligible to attend LAU, regardless of educational status.

For any further questions about residency requirements, please contact our Director of Operations.

LAU is a full-time program that operates during traditional fall and winter semesters. For grades 6-8, LAU students are required to take at least five classes per semester; for grades 9-12, students must take at least six classes per semester. Please see our middle school registration and high school registration pages for details on recommended and required courses.

In addition to required classes, students can choose from Adventure Fridays, Funded Approved Vendor Electives (FAVE), Independent Study courses, or any of our other online classes to meet our enrollment requirements for their grade level.

For specific questions about selecting the right courses for your child, please contact an LAU school counselor for high school, and our Family Success Specialist for middle school.

Note: Students who fall below the minimum required number of classes will be withdrawn from all classes and from LAU.

We have a simple, online application process. Please visit our How to Enroll page for full details, or schedule a call with an advisor for a step-by-step walkthrough.

Yes. Parents of returning students must submit an application each year; however, the returning student application is shorter than that for new students.

Yes, the application process is one-per-student. If you have multiple students, you’ll need to submit separate applications for each of them.

Yes. LAU has an enrollment cap of 490 students, and we reach this cap almost every year. The sooner you apply once open enrollment starts, the higher your chance of securing a spot for your student!

Open enrollment starts at the end of January each year, and runs for three weeks. If the number of applications we receive during open enrollment exceeds the number of available spaces, all continuing student applications will be accepted and prospective student applications will be subject to LAU’s lottery process. (Any student who is denied enrollment due to lack of space can also be added to our enrollment waitlist.)

For full details on open enrollment, please visit our Admissions and Enrollment Procedures page.

Yes, we allow students to participate in extracurricular activities at other schools. Sometimes, a district school will charge a participation fee of up to $75 to allow this to happen; LAU will pay that fee. 

To be eligible for this perk, parents must complete a Utah High School Activities Association form for each participating student. Please coordinate with the school providing the extracurricular activities to complete this and any other requirements.

LAU students are required to be full-time students. However, for specific academic reasons, students may split enrollment and take limited courses at another public school if pre-approved by LAU. Please contact an LAU school counselor for more information.

Yes, you can withdraw your student’s application at any time prior to the start of the school year. After the first day of school, if your child is registered for classes at LAU, you have 10 days to withdraw them before their grades up to that point become permanent on their transcript.

For any other questions about withdrawing from LAU, please contact our Registrar.

Once your student is accepted, and to be fair to all students and ensure your student doesn’t lose their spot, we have multiple deadlines for registration depending on the time of year (as shown in the table below).

Note: Registration for the upcoming fall and winter semesters opens on the first Monday in February each year.

Students who are not registered within the required time frame will be at risk of losing their spot at LAU. To help avoid this, we’ll email you a registration reminder as soon as your student’s application is approved.

No, all students must have applied and been accepted for the school year they wish to attend before you can register them for courses.

LAU offers a full range of courses in every core subject your student needs to graduate with an accredited high school diploma—plus a wide range of elective courses. These include:

• Award-winning online courses from the Williamsburg Curriculum in all subjects, including our highly popular Leadership Program
• LAU Independent Studies courses using a third-party curriculum of your choice (must meet state standards and be approved by LAU)
• Dynamic, fun in-person courses through our Adventure Fridays program
• Funded Approved Vendor Electives (FAVE), which provide funding for your student’s favorite extracurricular activity through an approved vendor of your choice
• Early college courses in partnership with Utah Tech University, University of Utah, and Brigham Young University - Idaho.
• Career certificates through our Career & Technical Education (CTE) partners

LAU offers online courses in partnership with Williamsburg Learning. Williamsburg provides three online course formats:

• Live-online: In these courses, students meet together with a mentor in an online classroom and participate in live class discussions every week. Some live classes have optional Honors versions which include more assignments for students who want to go even deeper.
• Self-paced: Students in these courses complete assignments on their own schedule and communicate with their peers and mentors via email, online student forums, and mentor office hours.
• Independent Studies: In these courses, students earn academic credit for completing studies with a third-party curriculum provider. Visit our Independent Studies page to learn more.

Registration for all courses takes place in SIS. To register for courses, you’ll log in using your SIS parent account username and password. From there, you can follow the steps on our middle school and high school registration pages to select your student’s ideal courses.

Note: Additional steps are required to register for Early College, Career & Technical Education (CTE), and Funded Approved Vendor Electives. See our program-specific web pages for more details.

For detailed course recommendations by grade, please see the course paths and sample schedules listed on our middle school and high school registration pages.

For questions about selecting the right courses for your child, please contact an LAU school counselor for high school, and our Family Success Specialist for middle school.

Once your student is registered, all that’s left is to prepare for the first day of school! To help with this, we encourage you to review our How to Prepare for School page and our on-demand Parent Orientation videos. We’ll also email you and your student with information about student orientation assignments they will complete in Canvas, our online learning management system.

Note: All course selections are reviewed and approved by LAU's school counselors. We will let you know if any of your student's courses need to be adjusted.

We maintain a student-instructor ratio of approximately 19:1. Instructors include both mentors and teaching assistants, who help provide detailed feedback on student assignments. For individual courses, our live-online class sessions range in size depending on the content of the course.

In general, we maintain smaller class sizes for middle school grades, with the exception of our seminar-style Leadership classes. It’s also important to note that a large online class is very different from a large class in person: The online classroom is a far less distracting environment for students than even a small class at a brick-and-mortar school. We’ve also pioneered using technology to maximize the online learning experience in classes of any size.

For example, many of our classes are based on engaging visual presentations by mentors, dynamic class-wide discussions, and smaller discussions and activities between groups of students in Zoom breakout rooms. Because of this, even students in our largest classes still make a personal connection with course material, their mentors, and their fellow students.

Yes. If you wish to add or drop your student from a course, you can initiate a change within the first two weeks of classes during a given semester. This includes switching class sections or changing between honors and classic versions.

Our drop policy is as follows:

• Students who drop a course within two weeks of the first day of classes in a given semester receive no grade or record on their transcript.
• Students who drop after the first two weeks of classes but before midterms receive a “W” for that course on their transcript.
• Students who drop after midterms receive an “F” for that course on their transcript.
• Students who fall below the minimum required number of classes will be withdrawn from all classes and LAU.
  
  

Absolutely! We’re happy to support students with an IEP or 504 plan. You can include specific documents and details about your student’s existing IEP or 504 plan during the enrollment application process. 

After your student has been accepted and you have registered them for courses, our SpEd team will work with you to review, evaluate, and update your student's plan as needed to reflect the online learning environment at LAU.

For more information about how we support students with IEPs, please visit our Special Education & Intervention Services page or contact our Special Education Director.

All of our mentors have Zoom office hours where students can log on and get help outside of regular class time.

If your student is struggling, the best place to start is by visiting their mentors’ office hours and asking mentors to customize the workload for your student. The day and time of office hours are posted on each course homepage in Canvas. You can also email mentors anytime with questions, and they will respond within one school day.

In addition, once each semester, we offer Parent-Mentor Conferences where you and your student can meet with their mentors and discuss any challenges or concerns. If your student needs additional hands-on support, we also have a dedicated performance coach available to work with you and your student.

Parents and students can view an unofficial transcript in SIS.

• Students: Click on My Transcript.
• Parents: Click on My Students, then the name of the student, then Transcript.

To request an official transcript (at no charge), please submit a Transcript Request form. You can find this form in the Handbooks, Forms, & Waivers section of our Parent Resource Center.

In a nutshell, we inspire students to find their love of learning and use it to build the foundation for a meaningful, successful life in our modern world. Our school culture is open, uplifting, and brings out the best in us and our students.

LAU students build lasting friendships with their peers and mentors as they explore their interests and unique abilities. On top of that, our students actively challenge and support each other in doing the hard work it takes to gain a liberal arts and leadership-focused education.

Lastly, each member of the LAU team has a clear area of focus to support student success and development. We live lives of meaning, purpose, and adventure while inspiring our students to do the same. 

This all adds up to create a school culture that inspires students to do the best work of their lives so far—both personally and academically.

We call our teachers “mentors” because they play the role of helping students develop as leaders (in addition to the traditional teacher role of helping students acquire knowledge).

Simply put, we have the highest standards and strongest filters in the industry when it comes to hiring talented mentors (who are also all certified teachers). On top of that, once hired, our mentors receive unrivaled professional development training to help them excel even further at bringing out students’ potential.

If you ask an LAU student to tell you about their mentors, you’ll likely hear words like “engaging,” “fun,” “inspiring,” “smart,” “hilarious,” “caring,” and “talented.” For many students and families, our mentors are the main attraction of the entire LAU program!

We attract bright and dedicated students who want to study history’s great minds and learn to think critically. Our students come from diverse backgrounds including home, public, and private schools; no particular background is necessary. A strong work ethic, eagerness to learn, and a desire to serve others are the only key ingredients for success at LAU.

The best way to determine if we’re the right fit for your child is by scheduling a call with an LAU advisor. We’ll ask a few questions to get to know your student so we can give you a strong recommendation either way.

In general, though, here are some things to consider when thinking about enrolling your child at LAU:

The liberal arts and leadership-focused education we offer at LAU is challenging. Since our mission is to prepare highly motivated and independent learners for meaningful lives of leadership, we have high expectations for our students. This requires students to be self-directed and open to being challenged by their schoolwork.

In addition, we use online learning tools that give students the freedom to guide their own education. We trust our students to use that freedom wisely and appropriately. Specifically, we expect each student to:

1. Work, read, and study independently.
2. Set daily and weekly commitments, and put in the work to meet those commitments.
3. Spend several hours a day in and out of class studying, completing assignments, and reflecting on how their learnings apply to their lives.

We only suggest enrolling your child at LAU if they are determined, excited, and prepared to meet these expectations. If so, our program could be the perfect fit to help your child unleash their full potential!

In general, LAU students do best when a parent or guardian is home to support and encourage them during the school day. To maximize your student’s success, the single most impactful thing you can do is use our 3-Step Parent Support Plan with your child every week. This includes:

1. Helping your student create a daily checklist for each school day, listing the tasks and assignments they will complete each day.
2. Helping your student anticipate which assignments they might need extra support on, such as a quick check from you before they submit it or attending their mentor’s office hours.
3. Checking in with your student for a few minutes each day to make sure they’re completing the items on their daily checklist.

We promise: If you do these three things with your student consistently, they’ll be on track for their best school year ever.

We offer multiple resources to support you in helping your child get the education they deserve! These include (but aren’t limited to):

• Our On-Demand Parent Orientation videos to help you and your student get a strong start to the school year.
• Additional Parent Resource videos to support you and your student at key times throughout the school year.
• The Weekly Parent Update, which includes a summary of important action items, announcements, and upcoming events at our school.
• Parent-Mentor Conferences and Parent-Mentor Updates to keep you informed about your child’s progress each semester.
• Our proven 3-Step Parent Support Plan to help your student stay on track with all their coursework every week.
• Easy access to our Support Team every weekday to get help with any technical issues

Our Governing Board holds the primary decision-making authority for our school. Made up entirely of volunteer members—including parents, teachers, and professionals in other fields—the board ensures that all LAU staff and service providers are following through on the mission, vision, and goals of our school.