The IU debate camp offers an invaluable experience, stellar and experienced staff, at incredible rates well below the costs of attending competitor camps around the nation. Shop around and you will see that attending the HDC will save you significantly off other Big 10 and peer-institution camps.

Non-credit

Residential

Commuter

Accepts International Students

Financial Aid

Application fee waiver

If you are looking for a high impact, event filled, educational summer camp experience, that will help build your confidence and skills in speaking, argumentation, research, and more, our staff is here for you!
Since hosting the HDC in 2010, ~1000 students from over 20 states and three countries have attended and achieved consistent success in competitive debates in their regions, states, and at national tournaments. Our staff is here to give you the education you need to succeed at any level and style of debate.
Debate Lab Event Opportunities*
Option A: Public Speaking and Advocacy Camp
Option B: Public Forum Debate
Option C: Lincoln Douglas Debate
Option D: Policy Debate
*Labs are "classes" where students are divided into groups with shared interests in debate styles. Lab size and options will be based on registrant numbers. If registrants are low, we may need to cancel an event. Registrants will be offered the opportunity to attend other labs.

Public Speaking and Advocacy Camp: The PSA Camp will focused on students who would like to hone their speaking skills outside of the competitive nature of a "debate." Students will learn about public speaking, argumentation, and advocacy. They will write and perform several speeches (oratory, impromptu, extemperaneous, policy, and ceremonial).

Public Forum Debate: PF debate is a partner based debate where students are part of a two-person team. A resolution, often based on current events, is provided and changed several times during a year of competition. Our camps often cover at least two resolutions a week. The student and their partner are paired against an opposing team and then assigned to a "Pro" or "Con" position on a resolution each round. Each debate is about 1 hour long, about 1/2 the speaking time as policy debate.

Lincoln Douglas Debate: LD debate is a non-partner single person debate against a single opponent. LD resolutions tend to focus on moral or value based controversies and are often identified as the "philosophical" in type. LD resolutions change every month or two during the season, similar to PF. Each debate students are assigned to be affirmative or negative, assuring balanced switch side debating.

Policy Debate: Policy debate is a partner team event. Policy resolutions are year-round and selected early in the calendar year. Policy historically has included a United States Federal Government acting to change a particular policy controversy. Since policy debate requires indepth research on a year-long topic, the debates are longer, about 2-hours, with twice the length of speaking times of other events. This allows the students more time to include depth of argumentation based on researched evidence. The summer camp resolution will be selected early in 2023 based on the National Speech and Debate Association topic selection. Five options remain: Agricultural Subsidies, Climate Change, Economic Inequality, Latin America, and South Asia.

1-Week Option

Jun 25 - Jul 02

1 week

Residential

950 USD

2-Weeks

Jun 25 - Jul 09

2 weeks

Residential

1900 USD

Speaking and Public Advocacy

Jun 25 - Jul 02

1 week

Residential

950 USD

1-Week Option

Jun 25 - Jul 02

1 week

Commuter

525 USD

2-Weeks

Jun 25 - Jul 09

2 weeks

Commuter

900 USD

Speaking and Public Advocacy

Jun 25 - Jul 02

1 week

Commuter

525 USD

Camp Rates

2-Week June 25- July 9th
HOUSING + MEALS TOTAL: $1900
DEPOSIT $300 + TUITION $1600

COMMUTER + MEALS TOTAL: $1500
DEPOSIT $300 + TUITION $1200

COMMUTER + NO MEALS TOTAL: $900
DEPOSIT $300 + TUITION $600

1-Week June 25th - July 2nd
HOUSING + MEALS TOTAL: $950
DEPOSIT $150 + TUITION $800

COMMUTER + MEALS TOTAL: $750
DEPOSIT $150 + TUITION $600

COMMUTER + NO MEALS TOTAL: $525
DEPOSIT $150 + TUITION $375

1-Week PSA* Camp June 25 - July 2nd
Public Speaking and Advocacy Camp*
HOUSING + MEALS TOTAL: $950
DEPOSIT $150 + TUITION $800

COMMUTER + MEALS TOTAL: $750
DEPOSIT $150 + TUITION $600

COMMUTER + NO MEALS TOTAL: $525
DEPOSIT $150 + TUITION $375

Financial Aid

Parent/Guardian(s) should provide proof of income. This can include a first page copy of their 2019 or 2018 Federal Income Tax Return(s) or alternative documentation or evidence of free or reduced lunches. These forms are critical to help us evaluate financial need. We only need the summary section of the tax return (usually the first few pages), not all supporting documents.

Written explanation of a student’s merit (from a debate standpoint) and their financial need are also required. This is very useful for us when we try to compare students’ need or when there are special circumstances that deserve attention.

Students should write a short letter explaining why the scholarship will help further their goals in debate.

Please let us know if you are: African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, would be first-generation college students, and if you qualify for free/reduced lunch.