ABOUT MAINE TEEN CAMP
A note regarding session for summer 2026
Starting next summer (2026), we will be switching our up our session dates and offering three (3x) 2-Week Sessions. These sessions can be combined into 4- or 6-Week Sessions also.
As you may know, we have offered a 2-Week option for many years now. We started doing so to reflect a desire from many families to have a shorter, but still meaningful, summer camp opportunity for their teenage camper.
The forces squeezing the summer only grow stronger:
- Increased demands on teenage time during the summer – whether internships, mandatory HS sports practices, or summer jobs – reduce the number of weeks a teenager is available.
- Increased demands on family finances – camp has never been cheap, but has always provided exceptional value – increase the need for a shorter, cheaper session.
- Changes in summer habits – fewer teens have been away from home as kids - a month of camp therefore can feel more daunting for both campers and their family.
By making this switch, we are able to best craft a complete and compelling camp experience, for both campers and staff. We are also able to offer session start dates that work for more families – rather than 2 arrival days per summer, we will now be able to offer 3. Our years of experience assure us that this change will be positive across the board.
We are also making a business decision that is, frankly, long overdue. The market for shorter session camp has been strong since before the pandemic and has grown stronger since. At the same time, the availability of much of our workforce (college students) has been compressed, with fewer staff willing or able to sign an 9+ week contract.
Despite this, one of the major reasons we previously resisted moving to an all 2-Week calendar is our sincere belief that 3-4 weeks of camp is the most optimal “dose” – aka the most benefits in the shortest term. However, the camp outcomes research we have been engaged in for the last 16 months has demonstrated that campers benefit significantly from a 2-Week session of camp also. In fact, teenagers benefit more from just 2 weeks of camp than any other measured (non-camp) intervention.
That said, there is a "dosage" effect. The longer a camper stays at camp, the more the benefits pile up – independence, social skill development, decision making, resilience, an affinity for nature and living in the moment, appreciation for diversity…and many more. Longer sessions will offer some additional opportunities and challenges, which is not a bad thing. One of the best things about camp is the opportunity to practice the essential skills summarized by one of the camp mottos - "To Meet...To Know...To Love...To Part". The longer your camper stays, they more friends they get to meet, to know and love, and to say good-bye to. It's joyful and fleeting.
So if a 4- or 6-week session works for your camper, go for it.
The proposed dates for summer 2026 are above. You will notice that we are again starting the last weekend of June.
One final note – with the end of the summer now open, we are exploring possible specialty programming for a week in mid-August. Watch this space.
First Session
June 26 - July 09, 2026
$4800
Second Session
July 11 - Jul 24, 2026
$4800
Third Session
July 26 - August 08, 2026
$4800
Four Week A
June 26 - July 24, 2026
$8500
Four Week B
July 11 - August 08, 2026
$8500
Full Summer
June 26 - August 08, 2026
$12000
*Two Week Sessions have Limited Availability.
ABOUT CAMP
Fees, Dates & Financial Aid
Discounts
(Discounts cannot be combined and cannot exceed 10% off tuition prices.)
Early Enrollment Special Pricing: Early enrollment savings are available through to December only. Please contact us before December 1st to qualify.
Returning Camper Discount: We offer a $100 savings off any tuition price for returning campers. Cannot be used in combination with Early Enrollment Special Pricing.
Lifetime Sibling Discount*: We offer a 10% lifetime sibling discount off any tuition price, good for any sibling of any former MTC camper.
Children of Alumni Discount: If you went to MTC as a camper and now have a teen of your own; or, if you are a former staff, who has a teen of your own, you will receive 15% off any tuition. Cannot be combined with Early Enrollment Special Pricing.
Active Military Discount*: We offer families with one/both parent/s currently serving in the US military a 10% discount on tuition. Proof of eligibility required.
School Teacher / Police Officer / EMS / Fire Fighter Discount*: We offer families with one/both parents currently employed as public school teachers, police officers, Emergency Services, or firefighters 10% discount on tuition. Proof of eligibility is required.
Payments
We encourage and appreciate payments by check, wire transfer and Venmo. Venmo and wire details available upon request. If you must pay by credit, we will accept Visa, Discover, and Mastercard.
Camperships/Scholarships and Financial Aid
Each season, Maine Teen Camp awards over $70,000 in camperships and scholarships.
MTC ‘Legends’ Campership Program
Through the ACA (American Camp Association), donations are made in memory, or honor, of camp ‘legends’ – for example, someone who has held the directorship, worked as staff at MTC, or attended MTC as a camper. This fund is set up by the ACA so that donors may contribute funds in honor of someone important to them, or in memory of someone important to MTC. The web portal asks the donor for information they need for this type of donation. By partnering with the ACA, a charitable 501 (c)(3) organization, a private camp like MTC can offer tax advantages to donors and open our program to more children who might never otherwise experience camp.
The MTC ‘Legends’ Campership Program began with the Robert Briskin Memorial Fund, created after the passing of Bob Briskin (owner/director of MTC 1991-2003) from pancreatic cancer. As a tribute to Bob, the Robert Briskin Memorial Fund was originally established to provide a summer camp experience for campers whose families had experienced and dealt with cancer – families whose battle with the disease hindered their ability to send their camper away to summer camp. Since then, sadly, we have had other MTC ‘legends’ leave us, and so, we found it fitting to expand the program through using the ACA fund and allow others to remember and/or honor loved ones by contributing a donation in their name.
Our goal is to increase the scope and reach of camperships, and to accept contributions from a wider section of the MTC community. We understand that there are a great many worthy causes that should benefit from charitable giving, and we hope that many will include sending a deserving camper for a summer at MTC as one of them.
MTC works in conjunction with Curtain Bluff, a resort hotel in Antigua, West Indies, to provide summer camp experiences for Old Road community children. The “Old Road Fund” helps send children to summer camp, further education, and provide healthcare to deserving families. Maine Teen Camp hires several staff from the resort during the summer season when the resort has lessened patrons.
The mission of Summer Search is to identify low-income high school youth who demonstrate resiliency in overcoming hardship and the desire to help others. Nurturing those qualities over time in students who have often been neglected allows them to become empowered future everyday leaders. Our ambitious mission is accomplished through a program that combines full scholarships to summer experiential education programs with intensive long-term mentoring.
Established in 2021, we are working with Smooth Feather Youth, a local youth serving non-profit which aims to harness individual and collective creativity to drive positive change in the local community. MTC is proud to partner with SmoothFeather, providing two camperships to local youth each summer.
Wildflower has grown out of the experience of one family in dealing with the loss of a parent and the subsequent years of recovery. The mission of the foundation is to provide scholarship assistance for summer camp and enrichment programs to families in which a parent has died. It is our belief that this opportunity can provide a restorative experience both for the children and surviving spouse in recovering from what is a difficult and challenging life crisis.
Maine Summer Camp’s Level Ground project is designed to connect youth from low-income Maine families, with summer camp experiences to which they would otherwise not have access. Campers are identified in the Portland, Maine schools and connected to the Level Ground initiative and camperships are provided by area summer camps, including MTC.
Maine Teen Camp Campership / Financial Assistance
Partial ‘Camperships’ have limited availability each year.
At Maine Teen Camp we know that the summer camp experience is of powerful importance for all teens, and therefore should be available to all teenagers.
Our financial aid program helps campers from families with limited financial means, while also fostering increased socio-economic diversity. We aim to increase diversity across a broad range of measures, for we know that a more diverse camp experience is more meaningful one, creates a more just and resilient community, enriches the experience for all campers, and does some small part to address issues of equity of access.
We encourage camper families, alumni, and friends of the camp community to consider a donation to our campership fund. It is tax-deductible, and every dollar helps send a deserving camper to MTC.
If you would like more information, please contact us to receive a copy of our financial aid application form.
