The First University that Puts You First

Other universities ask you to conform to their schedule, their courses, their curriculum, their semesters, their degrees, their four-to-five year timeline. Elton is different.

Elton University provides a world-class higher education that meets you where you are. Inspired by the last 40 years of learning science and Montessori's philosophy of education, Elton students succeed through individualized 1-on-1 tutoring and coaching with expert professors and professional coaches and advisors.

By personalizing education, our students learn more, faster, while maintaining or securing employment, and with greater purpose and motivation - this shrinks time to completion and can eliminate debt.

Even better, because Elton invests in people not buildings, Elton can offer its students an affordable and accessible pathway towards gaining a valuable and life-transforming higher education. Our tuition, before financial aid, is lower than even the more affordable public colleges.
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Is Elton the First Montessori University?

As far as we know, Elton is the first university to explicitly follow Montessori's learning philosophy. But this comes with a few important caveats. There are institutions, such as, Sarasota University or UW River Falls that trains adults to become Montessori teachers using Montessori's method, but that's teaching the method, not applying it as the operating model for a whole university. In addition, many educators are inspired by Montessori's thinking and apply it to their instruction. For instance, many schools will employ student choice and hands-on projects. But what is unique about Elton is no other university has built the entire university around Montessori's philosophy and educated undergraduates and master's and doctoral candidates.

Elton's overlap with Montessori comes from our commitment to evidence-based education. It turns out that the last 40 years of learning science keep confirming what she got right decades before anyone could test it. Individualized curricula, mastery-based pacing, growth mindset language, intrinsic motivation, self-directed learning; the evidence holds up at every age, not just in a kindergarten classroom. Montessori built her method on careful observation of children. We're building Elton on the same principles, backed now by data spanning children through working adults.

Arguably Montessori and Elton both are committed to three core principles:

The Science of Learning
From the first page of The Montessori Method, Montessori calls for education to catch up with medicine in using science to improve learning methods. This is precisely what we try to do and advocate for at Elton. Every part of the curriculum traces back to learning research, not convention, tradition, or authority.

Freedom to Choose
Montessori trusted learners to direct and drive their own growth and learning. This does not just go for children! People at all ages learn more if they are interested, curious, and motivated to learn something. There are other schools that might let you construct your on major, but that means construct it out of the 14 week courses available that semester. Elton is the only school that enables learners to build their entire curriculum around their own interests and life goals.

One Learner, One Teacher
Montessori knew that real teaching means knowing exactly where one student stands, not managing a room of thirty. At Elton, virtually all instruction is done 1-on-1. Although this seems like it would be impossible or costly, Elton is able to earn a comfortable positive net revenue at very low tuitions primarily by reducing administrative costs and costs that do not contribute to student learning and success.