Many herbal and aromatherapy training programs are simply personal businesses, not formal academic institutions. Having full postsecondary authorization means that you will be studying from a college that has third party oversight regarding instructor qualifications, academic competency, employability of our graduates, financial responsibility and stability, and much more. Each year, our entire school willingly submits itself to an in-depth, external reauthorization process which evaluates everything from our marketing practices to our physical classroom suitability to student satisfaction and the school’s overall stability.

Unlike a private business which operates independently and answers to no outside authority, this protects you as a student, ensuring that you are properly trained to achieve success when you enter the field upon graduation. Every little detail has been evaluated and approved from the size and resources in our classrooms to the qualifications of every instructor you encounter, and even our financial stability–ensuring that our program remains strong for the years to come and that your diploma holds legitimate academic credibility in the field. This also means that you have an advocate to hold us accountable throughout your education. Should any need arise that cannot be settled to your satisfaction directly with us, you can file a complaint with the board of higher education to ensure that we deliver exactly what we promise.

Because herbalism and aromatherapy are unregulated fields, anyone can start a personal business and provide you a certificate or diploma, but certificates from unregulated personal businesses hold no weight outside of the small circle of colleagues in the field. College certificates and diplomas are recognized academic accomplishments worldwide.

Evidence-based has become a hot marketing term in the field of natural health, but many programs’ scientific evidence does not extend beyond their marketing materials or the inclusion of a basic chemistry class or two. At the Franklin Institute of Wellness, evidence-based is not a mere phrase that sounds good on paper, research is the primary focus of our institution. Not only do we provide faculty who are experienced integrative health researchers to guide you through your training, we actually conduct original research here at the institution furthering the existing body of scientific evidence in the fields of herbalism, aromatherapy, and integrative health as a whole.

All of our students take required classes in research methods and we offer additional opportunities to specifically concentrate on the methods required to conduct research in the natural health fields. As a student at FIW, you not only have direct access to accomplished researchers in the field, you also have the opportunity to participate in conducting scientific studies and clinical trials, gaining priceless experience and expertise for your future career.

Today’s essential oil enthusiasts are using essential oils internally, neat (undiluted), and in a myriad of other ways both in and on the body. Yet very few aromatherapy programs have advanced beyond a primary focus on heavily diluted topical applications and inhalation, and many still source their safety data from skincare production guidelines rather than toxicological information unique to medicinal applications. As a result, aromatherapists who enter the field through traditional training programs are wholly unequipped and unprepared to face the challenges their clients experience and are unable to provide relevant services to today’s aromatherapy enthusiasts.

No professional aromatherapy education is complete without an in-depth preparation to enter the field fully prepared to meet the modern client’s questions about neat applications, ingested essential oils, and relevant safety data based on proper dosing and not merely skincare products. Our programs provide the relevant health sciences and experience required to assist clients in today’s rapidly growing and evolving essential oil community in ways which are both safe and effective.

One of the benefits of studying at a formal college is access to a diversity of instructors along the way. Rather than studying all of your subjects from a single source with a single instructor, you’ll learn from a diverse group of instructors utilizing textbooks and study materials which offer differing perspectives and approaches to integrative health, empowering you to find your unique niche in the field.

As a student at the Franklin Institute of Wellness, you will learn from instructors across the country and around the globe to gain unique insight into the various sciences required for success in the field. You will study chemistry with an aromatherapist/chemist from Ireland, or anatomy & physiology and dietary supplement science from a nutraceuticals researcher and nurse practitioner who holds a doctorate in nursing practice, and you’ll study research methods with an aromatherapist PhD candidate researcher. So your instructors are not merely teaching concepts related to a theory; they teach from practical and professional experiencein these specialized areas of the field, ensuring that you attain competency at every level of your education.

While many herbal and aromatherapy programs feature self-taught instructors, instructors with degrees in unrelated fields such as business or humanities, or instructors who entered the field exclusively through traditional approaches, every instructor at FIW holds at least one college degree in a relevant health science field. This ensures that your instructor knows not only how to pass along the traditions and philosophies of classic herbalism and aromatherapy, but also demonstrates competency in modern sciences which are required to integrate traditional approaches to health into a modern day environment.

As a fully authorized postsecondary institution, our operational requirements are student-centered, not profit-centered. This means that you only pay for classes when you register; there are no requirements to pay in full for an untested program up-front. We have a reasonable and fair refund policy, so you never find yourself mid-way through a program, frustrated that you have invested so heavily in something that isn’t what it appeared to be.

All students enter a signed agreement upon acceptance, guaranteeing that your tuition rates will remain consistent throughout the duration of your program. As with any college, you register for your classes at the start of an academic quarter and only pay for the course load you select each term. You can even take a single quarter off in-between terms if you want a summer break or to enjoy more time with family over the holidays. Practically, this means that you can enter the program as a full time student, complete the next quarter as a part time student, take a quarter off to spend more time with family, and then register for the next quarter with a full time course load again–just as you would at any other college.