Mary Baker Eddy placed high value on her healing system and on her instruction, and expected students would earn from what they learned. To her, it was a given that public demand for effective, affordable, spiritually based healthcare, provided by caring healers, would constantly grow. With her earliest students she charged tuition and requested a small percentage of the student's subsequent practice. She would later drop the percentage requirement and typically charge $300 for instruction. She gave free tuition to many applicants and reduced fees for others who could afford to pay something toward instruction.
In 1910, she set the fee for class instruction at $100, a provision that hasn't changed since then. It is instructive to realize that during Mary Baker Eddy's career as a teacher of healing, she did not experience the kind of inflationary economy that we're accustomed to today. Due to serious economic downturns, the cost of goods and services in the US actually declined significantly between 1870 and 1898 when she stopped teaching. The services that cost $100 in 1870 cost just $62.57 in 1898.
After decades of 20th-century inflation, that $100 fee today looks quite different. What cost $100 in 1910 would cost almost $2,000. That is why many students who take the course today pay more, out of gratitude for the true value of what they have learned and the way their lives have been transformed and are blessing others.
