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Pricing

re: fees, stated plainly

What it costs — three packages, quoted, not listed

There are three ways to retain the desk: Determination & Plan, The Complete File, and Full Handover — the premium, which takes the submission and every reply to the board off your desk until the approval letter. Each is quoted in writing after the free application review, as a fixed fee, never hourly. You will not find a price list on this site, because the quote matches your file and not a table.

In a line — you write to the desk, we read what you have for free, and the letter we write back names the package your file calls for and its fixed fee. No hourly billing, no add-ons, no obligation to proceed. If the honest answer is "file it as it stands," the letter says that instead, and there is no fee at all.

The three packages

what each one includes, and whom each one suits

The packagesthree ways to retain the desk re: what is inside each

Determination & Plan

The reading, in writing: research or quality improvement, with the reasons, against the signed proposal.
The review-path call — exempt, expedited, or full board, in the categories Walden's current handbook and IRB portal describe — and what that path will ask of the file.
The document plan: every enclosure the board will expect, named, with what each must say and who must sign it.
The dual-role and site strategy if you are studying the building you work in — who recruits, who consents, who opens identifiable data, where your authority stops.
One written round of questions back to the desk as you build the file yourself.

Suits the candidate who wants the strategy settled and the map drawn, and intends to build and file the documents personally. A written quote after the free application review. Fixed fee, never hourly.

The Complete File

Everything in Determination & Plan.
The application itself, answer by answer, consistent with the proposal your committee signed.
The consent document element by element; recruitment materials verbatim; instruments and guides aligned to the proposal; the data security plan that names names.
Letters of cooperation and any data use agreement drafted on the partner site's letterhead for signature.
The second reading: the whole desk reads the finished file against the proposal before it is handed to you.
One version-matched file, ready for you to file.

Suits the candidate who wants the file built right and is content to press "submit" and handle the board's reply personally. A written quote after the free application review. Fixed fee, never hourly.

Full Handover

most chosen

Everything in The Complete File.
The submission itself, filed by the desk through Walden's current IRB portal, in your name as the researcher.
Every reply to the board: the point-by-point revision response and the coordinated resubmission; amendments when the study changes; the continuing review or closure the handbook calls for — until the approval letter with its number.
The correspondence comes to the desk, not to you. You run the project; we run the exchange.
The whole process off your desk. The research stays yours; the decision stays the board's.

Suits the candidate who wants the entire IRB process handled end to end — which is most of the candidates who write to us. A written quote after the free application review. Fixed fee, never hourly.

Start with the free application review Every quote comes in writing, after we have read the file. No hourly billing, no add-ons.

The three, side by side

what each package carries — read down the column

Exhibit Dthe packages, compared attached to: every quote

What each package includes. “Yes” means the desk does it; a dash means it stays with you.
The desk does —	Determination & Plan	The Complete File	Full Handover
The determination reading, in writing, with reasons	yes	yes	yes
The review-path call and what it asks of the file	yes	yes	yes
The document plan — every enclosure, named	yes	yes	yes
The dual-role plan and site strategy	yes	yes	yes
The application, answer by answer	—	yes	yes
Consent document, recruitment materials, instruments aligned, data security plan	—	yes	yes
Letters of cooperation and data use agreements, drafted for signature	—	yes	yes
The second reading by the whole desk before it goes	—	yes	yes
The submission itself, filed by the desk	—	—	yes
The revision response and coordinated resubmission	—	—	yes
Amendments, continuing review, closure — every letter until the approval letter	—	—	yes
The research itself — the study, the data, the findings	yours	yours	yours
The decision	the board's	the board's	the board's

The last two rows are the same in every column on purpose. Full Handover moves the process, not the research. Under any package the study remains yours and the determination remains the board's; what changes is how much of the correspondence you carry personally.

How the quote is made

from your first letter to a fixed fee in writing — and what moves it

The deskon quoting re: why the fee is written, not listed

You write to the desk. The intake form asks for where the project stands and whatever you already have — a signed proposal, a draft application, a returned letter. Attachments can follow by email once we reply.
We read it as the board will. The free application review is a real reading by one of the three consultants, not a form letter: which letter you are writing, which path it belongs on, what is missing, what contradicts what.
The letter back carries the reading and the quote. It names the package your file calls for and the fixed fee for it. If the honest reading is "file it as it stands," it says that instead.
You decide. No obligation, no expiry pressure, no follow-up campaign. When you say yes, the engagement begins with the determination and the plan; payment terms are stated in the quote letter itself.

What moves a quote

Within a package, the fee moves with the file and nothing else: how many sites need letters of cooperation, how many instruments must be aligned, whether the design uses existing records and needs a data use agreement, whether the review path is exempt or full board, whether the study sits inside your own workplace, and whether the application has already been returned once — a returned file is a file with a board letter to answer, and it is quoted as one. The fee does not move with how long the board takes, with how many times it writes back, or with the hours the desk spends. That is what fixed means.

What never appears

No hourly rate, no per-document menu, no add-ons after the quote, and no fee for the review itself. The packages above are the only three things the desk sells.

— the desk

Short replies on fees

the questions about cost that arrive before the first letter

Short replieson what it costs re: six questions, answered in a line

Why are there no prices listed on the site?

Because the fee is quoted to the file, not to a price list: two Walden IRB files under the same package can differ in sites, instruments, review path and whether the board has already written back, so the desk reads first and quotes in writing after the free application review.

A listed price would either overcharge the simple file or undercharge the complex one. A written quote after a real reading does neither, and it is fixed once written.

Is the application review really free?

Yes. The free application review is a real reading of what you have by one of the three consultants, returned in writing with where the file stands and, where one is called for, a fixed-fee quote; there is no charge for the review and no obligation to continue.

When the honest answer is "file it as it stands," the letter says so and there is nothing to pay.

Do you bill by the hour?

No. Every package is a fixed fee stated in the quote letter; it does not move with the hours the desk spends, with how many times the board writes back, or with how long the board takes.

Hourly billing would make the candidate pay for the board's thoroughness. A fixed fee puts that risk where it belongs — on the desk.

If I take The Complete File and the board returns it, what happens?

Under The Complete File the revision response is yours to write, and many candidates do; if you would rather the desk carry it, the engagement can be raised to Full Handover at that point and the difference is quoted in writing, not charged by the hour.

A file built under The Complete File goes in whole and version-matched, which is the best defense against a long reply; it is still the board's reply to write.

Can I move from one package to another?

Yes. A candidate who starts with Determination and Plan can retain the desk for the documents or the full process later, and the earlier fee counts toward the later package; the step is quoted in writing like everything else.

Moving down is rarer but possible before the work for the larger package begins.

What exactly am I paying for under Full Handover?

The entire IRB process handled end to end — the determination and plan, every document, the submission filed under your name, and every reply to the board until the approval letter with its number — while the research stays yours and the decision stays the board's.

It is the premium package because it is the whole of the service; it is the most chosen because that is what most candidates who write to the desk actually want.