The Faith Community Scholarship is an opportunity for any parish or faith community to support an individual family in pursuing Catholic education in Whatcom County. If the “Cost to Educate” is $9,562 and the preliminary tuition for each child is $8320, families can apply to their faith communities for additional support through this scholarship. The applications open starting January 17, 2024, and families have through March 1, 2024 to complete their application and/or meet with their faith community leader or pastor. To give the pastors time to review the applications, awards will be sent to families on April 5. If you need this information sooner and would like to meet with your pastor before April 5, please set up an appointment through the parish office.
Click on the “Application” below and fill it in as an editable pdf, or open and print it. (A hard copy has also come home in your Wednesday Envelope on January 17.) Please save a copy to your phone or desktop and email the completed form to theoffice@assumption.school with “Faith Community Scholarship 2024-25” in the subject line. You may also send a hard copy of the form in the Wednesday Envelope or deliver it to the school.
Church of the Assumption- Faith Community Scholarship Letter (in English)
Application- Faith Community Scholarship 2024-2025 (in English)
Tuition structure questions
- Will Scrip contributions go towards our tuition now that the $8320 is the cost to educate?
The cost to educate is actually $9562, but the maximum tuition per child is $8320. Scrip contributions are already included in this “preliminary” tuition calculation. It is income brought in through the PTC and then given as part of the PTC subsidy to all school families.
- Following up on the question about early registration extension, for our family $585 being due in approximately three weeks is not doable.
The March 1st deadline is to provide enough time for new families to enroll based on space available in a particular class. If there is not space, that family needs to be able to enroll elsewhere. We need an earlier deadline to serve this purpose, but we will offer a disclaimer for a refundable registration fee before June 1st. This is for any family whose decision to withdraw is financial only. For example, if your Faith Community Scholarship is not enough for your family, you may have the option to withdraw without penalty.
- For non-parish families, should we budget for a 4% tuition increase annually?
Typically, there will be a 3-4% increase each year to adjust for inflation, but some years, it may be more than 4% if we are trying to increase teacher salaries or increase our deferred maintenance expenses. Most families should predict and plan for an annual 4% increase.
- For non-parish families, is it safe to assume $8320 per child is the highest we’ll pay?
Yes. This is the maximum per child in K-8 for the 2024-2025 school year. It will not go up or down based on enrollment. It will only be decreased by financial aid or Faith Community Scholarship amounts.
- When we apply for parish subsidy, do we have to disclose our family’s income?
This will be based on each individual parish. Church of the Assumption will not be asking for a family’s income in the application process, but other pastors and churches may need this information to make their determinations.
- Some parishes have less financial flexibility. Will families from these parishes be at a disadvantage?
We see this as a partnership between the parish or church, school, and families. It’s our goal and hope that each parish will be able to meet the needs of individual families. However, if that is not the case in this first (transition) year to the new system, the school will try to make up that difference. In future years, this will be a conversation that parents need to have with their pastors in order to keep Catholic education affordable for all Catholics, regardless of parish.
- In order to get the discount of early registration, we are being asked to register without knowing for sure what we will be paying in tuition?
This is correct. You should assume to pay the full $8320 per child and register with that number in mind. We also want to reassure you that there will be additional money available through the Faith Community Scholarships. You should discern what you are able to pay, and appeal to the parish with that number. In this first year, the school will support what the parish may not be able to do.
- Is there an official application form for the parish subsidy? If so does it get turned in to assumption school or directly to the parish?
The application form for the Faith Community Scholarship can be emailed to theoffice@assumption.school or returned in the Wednesday Envelope on or before March 1, 2024.
