Who is the typical Ramtha student?

In 1996, Constance A. Jones, a Fulbright scholar who teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, visited the school three times. Jones drew this demographic picture of the Ramtha School from the 540 students she sampled:

A high number of students have college and post-graduate degrees.

Of the sample, half earn less than $20,000, despite their education.

The average age is 41 years old.

Most are former city dwellers who left to live in or near Yelm. "Leaving the city is about accommodating their changing values," Jones said. "Most of the students have intentionally chosen to leave prestigious and high-income jobs and live with fewer resources. "Money, prestige and fame are not as important as living closer to the land."

Ramtha students are not typical New Agers. "New Age people are people who seek out ways to feel good but sacrifice little to get there."

Students report such things as everything from greater self-esteem to miraculous healings (some medically-confirmed), psychic phenomena, precognition, clairvoyance, remote viewing, manifestations of objects, manifestations of wealth, and more joy in life due to what they have learned in the school.

Dr. Stanley Krippner profiled a sample of 7 students from the school, and they were found to be "able to enter altered states of consciousness easily."

In Jones' closing remarks at the conference, she stated, "These are people who have found extreme happiness, and it comes from their involvement with the school." She continues, " This is a remarkably normal group of people doing pretty remarkable things."

Dr. John Simmons, professor of religious studies at Western Illinois University, questioned whether what is being taught at the school is indeed "good, truthful, and of value." He concludes that RSE finds students being sent out into the world to apply what they have learned: compassion, caring, community, gratitude, reverence for life, and, above all, love."