Founded in 1891, ICS offered courses on the installment plan. Ten Courses could be paid for in advance or on a "sixty-days-same-as-cash" basis, but most students opted for paying in three, five, or ten-dollar monthly installments. The installment plan was extremely important because some of the ICS courses were expensive. For example, in 1906, the "Complete Architecture" course cost $110 if paid in advance. The price rose to $122 on the ten-dollar plan, $130 on the five-dollar plan, and $135 on the three-dollar plan. The payment plans allowed people who did not earn much to take advantage of an incredible educational opportunity on a budget.