What Novice Debate Programs Actually Charge, Rechecked

Novice and middle-school debate coaching still does not have much price transparency on the page you would first expect it: a dedicated "Pricing" link in the main navigation. But going back through every program's own site a second time, more carefully, the actual picture is better than our first pass suggested: most of this category does publish real numbers, they are often just tucked onto a schedule page, a "plans" page, or a specific program page rather than a page called "Pricing." Here is every number we found on this pass, and exactly where it lives.

Bergen Debate Club (bergendebate.com) runs in-person Public Forum cohorts capped around 12 students in New Jersey and New York, with an online option. Tuition is published plainly on its semester-programs page: $1,790 for a 13-week fall term (26 hours of instruction) and $2,050 for a 17-week winter/spring term (34 hours), each on top of a $300 non-refundable deposit and a $100 new-student fee. Run fall and spring back to back and it comes to roughly $3,840 across most of a school year.

Potomac Debate Academy (potomacdebate.com) teaches Public Forum and World Schools formats (not Lincoln-Douglas) across grades 2-12, in-person in Rockville, MD and online nationwide. Its homepage and programs page do not mention a price, but its class schedule page does: Fall 2026 sections run $850 for a 12-week term or $1,100 for a 16-week term, putting a full year at roughly $1,700 to $2,200.

DebateDrills (debatedrills.com) is a premium, fully-online program founded in 2015. Its Lincoln-Douglas Club Team page lists $4,275 for the season (August-April), and its own page recommends roughly 15 additional hours of 1:1 tutoring at a member-discounted rate on top, putting a typical LD family closer to $5,775 for the year. Its Public Forum Club Team is priced separately, at $3,500 solo or $2,800 per student with a partner.

Break Debate (breakdebate.com) is Lincoln-Douglas-focused with a published three-tier structure on its pricing page: Foundations at $1,500/season, Essentials at $3,000/season, and Circuit at $3,500-4,000/season.

TalkMaze (talkmaze.com/debate) publishes some of the clearest pricing in the category, right on its debate landing page: a $29 first session, $85 a la carte, $280/month for a 4-session Topic Sprint plan, and $520/month for an 8-session Competitor plan, its own most popular option. Run over a 9-month year, Competitor comes to roughly $4,680.

CME Strategy (cmestrategy.org) keeps its pricing off the homepage entirely, but its plans page lists Lincoln-Douglas at $4,000/season (or $1,500 per topic), with a Public Forum track coming soon at $2,000/season.

The Argument Institute (argumentinstitute.org) does the same: no number on the homepage, but its speech-and-debate-coaching page lists a full in-season debate package at $3,250 (August-May) and a separate speech-coaching package at $1,850.

Civic Debate Academy (cdadebate.com) is the one program on this list where we still could not find a published number anywhere, after checking its homepage, classes page, individual class pages, and its own program-comparison page. Getting a price requires a phone call, a form, or a free consultation.

Podium Debate, for comparison: $150/month for a weekly 90-minute live cohort, published on the pricing page with no call required, no upfront joining fee, cancel anytime, roughly $1,200 for the year.

We are not claiming these are apples-to-apples. Term lengths, formats, and what is included all vary, and a few of these are pricing tiers for circuit-level infrastructure Podium Debate is not attempting to replicate (see our dedicated comparisons with Break Debate, DebateDrills, and CME Strategy for that distinction specifically). But the pattern worth naming is the one above: this category is more price-transparent than it first looks, the numbers are usually just one click past the homepage. We put ours on the first page precisely so nobody has to go looking.

Pricing reflects each program's own published rates as we found them, verified directly against their current sites, and may have changed since; verify directly with the program before relying on it for a purchase decision.