Enrolling in a CLM program
How registration works, what funding documents we accept, and what happens if plans change. Worth reading before you commit a person for twelve months.
How to register
The same six steps for all four programs. Most of the elapsed time is your own agency’s approval, so start there.
Choose the program
Compare the four on the programs page and check the grade range and the completion requirements. The grade is guidance; the requirements are not, and several of them need a supervisor’s agreement before you start.
Check the cohort dates
The schedule lists every published intake with its training weeks. Work backwards from the start date, because agency approval usually takes longer than people expect.
Get your agency’s approval
Your supervisor, and your training coordinator if you have one. Many agencies run their own internal competitive process for these seats, so ask before you assume you can apply directly.
Register for the session
Select the cohort and start the registration. You will be asked for an email address, then for the application itself.
Attach funding or payment
Upload a completed SF-182 or equivalent funding document, or pay by credit card. If your agency pays by government purchase card, give the name, email and phone number of the person responsible. The application cannot be submitted without one of these.
Confirmation, review, invoice
You get a confirmation notice and a request for additional applicant information. Enrollment is then subject to review and approval by CLM staff. Once approved, our finance team invoices the department or individual named at registration.
Paying for it
SF-182 or equivalent
The usual route. Upload the completed, signed form at registration and our finance team invoices your agency against it. What the SF-182 needs.
Government purchase card
Give the name, email and phone number of the person responsible for payment, and we will contact them directly.
Credit card, or an invoice
Pay by card at registration, or have us invoice the department or the individual named during registration.
Graduate School USA holds GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract 47QRAA24D004K, and all four programs are on it. For a group, the scheduled per-participant rate is below the open-enrollment tuition, so a contracting office ordering under FAR Subpart 8.4 usually pays less than a person registering individually. Ask us for the bracket pricing.
If plans change
Withdrawals and substitutions
- More than 14 days before the start
- Withdraw or substitute another person at no charge.
- Within 14 days of the start
- A $1,000 processing fee applies to a cancellation.
- After the orientation session begins
- Non-refundable.
These are the terms for the four cohort programs. Individual courses follow the standard Graduate School USA registration terms, so ask us if you are booking one of those and need the detail.
Program access
- Where the program lives
- All course materials, assignments and communications are handled through the Graduate School’s online learning platform.
- When you get access
- On acceptance. Participants are responsible for maintaining their access for the duration of the program.
What the commitment actually is
- Attendance
- Participants must attend all training sessions and take part in the developmental activities. These are completion requirements, not recommendations.
- Time outside work hours
- Some requirements have to be completed outside normal work hours, so plan ahead. You and your supervisor should agree a schedule for them before the program starts rather than after.
This is the part worth being honest about up front: a twelve-month program with a mentor, an eight-week developmental assignment and five executive interviews is a real commitment, and the participants who struggle are almost always the ones whose supervisor had not agreed to it.
Still deciding?
Tell us the grades you are developing and roughly when. We will come back with the next intake, what the application needs, and an honest read on whether a program or a short course fits better.