Private School Tuition Payments?

[luvmarypoppins]

Just wondering what tuition payment options does your school offer

Cash, check, credit card, a tuition management company?

If your school does use a tuition management company, which one FACTS, SMART etc? and are you happy with it?

Our school wants to look into some different options etc.
Do you get a discount for pre paying the year ahead?

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Catholic School -- preschool to grade 12.

We must pay the whole year's tuition on June 1. If you move more than 30 miles away you will get a pro-rated refund.

Options for payment:

1) Pay in Full
2) Finance through a local bank - unsecured loan, I think around 5%
3) Apply for financial aid and pay what is determined by June 1.

No credit cards, no management company, and no prepayment discount.

Third child discount of 60% and free for child 4+.

The only other discount I can think of is our SCRIP program (you purchase gift cards and a percentage is applied to your tuition)

I understand the headaches of a monthly payment plan for our business office, but I wish we could break our payment into three payments -- June 1, Sep 1, Jan 1. I actually think there would be less needed in financial aid if our payments were smaller. It can be hard to save the $6,000 (Average for 2 students) for June 1 -- but more doable to have $2,000 saved several times a year.

Good luck in your research!

 

[mickeyplanner08]

Private K-8

Tuition due in 10 monthly payments-Aug-May.

No discount for pre-payment.
Cash or check only.

No credit cards.

 

[allison443]

Our dd's went to a Catholic elementary school that used to use SMART for monthly payments, it was fine-there was a $35 fee per family I think. Recently they switched to monthly direct withdrawal from our bank account. You can pick what day to withdraw (the choices are the 1st, 15th, or 30th, I think). Payments are monthly August-May. I think the discount is $100 if you pay in full by August 1.

For my dd's high school, there is a monthly coupon book, but payments are sent directly to the school office. My dd will start there in the fall, but her tuition is broken into ten monthly payments starting this April. So April to January.

Neither school was set up to accept credit cards. I never heard of anyone wanting to pay cash for tuition

 

[Deb in IA]

Our private Catholic school offers monthly withdrawal from checking, and that is the option we use.

 

[simba20]

Options for payment:

3) Apply for financial aid and pay what is determined by June 1.

How does financial aid for private schools work. My daughter is only 2.5, but I am looking at some private schools in the city we are considering moving to (mainly for her middle/high school years).

Is financial aid like a "scholarship"? Do you get a reduced tuition? I doubt it would be like college financial aid that you have to pay back.....just wondering.

 

[minniebeth]

Just wondering what tuition payment options does your school offer

Cash, check, credit card, a tuition management company?

If your school does use a tuition management company, which one FACTS, SMART etc? and are you happy with it?

Our school wants to look into some different options etc.
Do you get a discount for pre paying the year ahead?

Cash or check if paying upfront and in full only. Then it's a contract and absolutely NO refunds for any reason.

Tuition management company with credit card/payments/financial assistance.
We use FACTS and while we don't have anything to comapre it to, find them easy to use/deal with. It's a yearly application and fee to use them and gets divided up in 12 monthly payments for our DDs' school and 10 payments for DS's school (high school).

Oh, and a discount for pre-paying, no. I wish!, although for many (for us too) it's not an option with the cost of the tuition.

DDs' school just went to SCRIP this year though, and can get tuition discounts using the program.

 

[joviroxx]

Catholic school K-8.. We pay in 12 monthly payments, due on the first. Check, cash or credit.

 

[2Eskiedogs]

Our school takes payment by cash, check and electronic transfer. You get a 2% discount if you pay in full at the start of the school year.

We do have a SCRIP program, so we can earn money towards our tuition.

You can request financial aid, had to send in copies of tax statements(state and federal) and letter stating why you are in need.

When I was working nights, my paycheck paid for tuition, hot lunch account, and any school fees, so many times when I cashed my paycheck, I paid in the school office with cash, received a receipt for what I had paid. The last couple of years, we can look online to see what our balance of our tuition, hot lunch account and how much SCRIP credit we have earned.

There are several catholic parishes in my town, that sponsor a student(family) that is in need. My boys have received scholarships earned by merit, and also by financial need. It was real fun to get DS(11) to write an essay "Why I Want a Catholic Education". Let's just say that was a fun night - Oh Joy, Oh Joy!

 

[Nette]

We do FACTS as well. Though you can pay in 1 or 2 installments if you choose to do so. Our tuition withdrawals go from May-Feb.

We are also sort of expected to make another donation to the annual fund at school. It's not mandatory and there is no set amount, but they do really nag you about it.

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

How does financial aid for private schools work. My daughter is only 2.5, but I am looking at some private schools in the city we are considering moving to (mainly for her middle/high school years).

Is financial aid like a "scholarship"? Do you get a reduced tuition? I doubt it would be like college financial aid that you have to pay back.....just wondering.

For Financial Aid in our school you complete a two sided form and send in with a copy of your tax return. The Business Office then reviews that info and has several spots it can get money -- 1) we have an area endowment fund, our Bishop has a scholarship program, additional parish help, and private donations directly to our school to help with tuition.

The form is pretty intense, which I guess it needs to be if you want money. It starts with Employment status for both the Mom and Dad (meaning if you are stay at home, you better be able to explain why). The family is to estimate what they think they can pay and then what tuition other relatives can pay. It also has a section on assets -- what cash do you have in checking and savings, retail value of your house, what you owe on the house, value of stocks, etc.

None of them need to be paid back.

I wish there was a way to use that money and bring the costs down for all families. I think Catholic education is the hardest to pay if you are "middle class". If you have no money, the school has many ways to help you and if you are rolling in money, then there is also no problem. For us, we can manage it but need to make other life choices -- our vacations aren't in Europe, we do not have a big screen TV, etc. But it's a choice we have made and I wouldn't change my daughter's school for anything.

 

[hedgehog2owl]

Catholic School Grade k-8

payment options:

1) Full amount by July 11th
2) 1/2 by July 11th, 1/2 by Jan 11th
3) 9 payments on 1st of each month Sept-May taken out of you checking account. You have to apply for this option and there is a 40 enrollment fee. (FACTS) I've never used this though

options 1 or 2 you can pay by money order, check or cash. #3 is by direct deposit checking account only.

no discount or penalties for early or late besides the fees mentioned.

 

[simba20]

For Financial Aid in our school you complete a two sided form and send in with a copy of your tax return. The Business Office then reviews that info and has several spots it can get money -- 1) we have an area endowment fund, our Bishop has a scholarship program, additional parish help, and private donations directly to our school to help with tuition.

The form is pretty intense, which I guess it needs to be if you want money. It starts with Employment status for both the Mom and Dad (meaning if you are stay at home, you better be able to explain why). The family is to estimate what they think they can pay and then what tuition other relatives can pay. It also has a section on assets -- what cash do you have in checking and savings, retail value of your house, what you owe on the house, value of stocks, etc.

None of them need to be paid back.

I wish there was a way to use that money and bring the costs down for all families. I think Catholic education is the hardest to pay if you are "middle class". If you have no money, the school has many ways to help you and if you are rolling in money, then there is also no problem. For us, we can manage it but need to make other life choices -- our vacations aren't in Europe, we do not have a big screen TV, etc. But it's a choice we have made and I wouldn't change my daughter's school for anything.

Thanks for the info.

 

[mommytobug]

Ok, I did mine this morning. Whew. 175 building fee. 450 for regstration and workbooks, etc I post dated 2 checks for 225, one on June 1 and one on July 1. Then I signed a bank draft forrm (this is new this year-you can do a bank draft or post date all the checks) for 360 a month. That starts in August. You can pay it all by august 2nd or agree to post date or do bank draft.

I would love to see what everyone pays for private school. It is always interesting to me how different areas charge different things.

 

[Green Tea]

Ours uses TMS. i have never had a problem with the company. I think the charge is $65 to use the plan. You can do 2, 6 or 10 months, I think. Ten month pays July to March. You can slso pay one lump sum in July for the upcoming year as well.

TMS drafts from checking. The school does not accept credit card payments.

 

[ndelaware]

Our girl's school (a small country day school grades pre-K to 12) requires a $400/student deposit for all students at the end of February. The balance is either due as a whole in mid August, or half in August and half in January which adds about $200 to the yearly tuition. Monthly payments are also available starting in August and ending on May 1. This option adds about $500 to the yearly tuition.

 

[traviesojmt]

This is directly quoted from the tuition info from our school. There is no discount for paying in full. Until June, we are allowed to pay via credit card(which I do for the reward points), but the cost for the school to use credit cards has become prohibitive.



10 month payment plan starts June 1, 2010 and ends March 1, 2011.
12 month payment plan starts June 1, 2010 and ends May 1, 2011.

All tuition contracts must be signed prior to June 30, 2010. Your June tuition payment is a non-refundable deposit and must be paid no later than June 30, 2010. If for any reason, the student does not attend XXX, this deposit and the registration fee will be forfeited.

All families that pay their tuition over 10 or 12 months must allow XXX to deduct their tuition automatically from a checking or savings account each of each month starting June, 2010. There will be a $50.00 fee assessed for any deduction that is not processed because of non-sufficient funds.

 

[hedgehog2owl]

I think the reason our school doesn't require payment earlier than July is because both they and the diocese don't even send the reward (scholarships) letters until June! It was very annoying last year not knowing until then if she'd have to go to public, or if I should start buying uniforms.

My city is a pretty cheap place to live, so I am sure our tuition is WAY lower than the national average so I won't even mention it

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Just got our registration package today -- everything was the same as last year, except they are taking credit card payments! I was in shock, because we used to be able to do standing orders of SCRIP with CC and they took it away due to the high fees. I am excited because I will pay it off and get tons of points!

 

[ccgirl]

Private Catholic K-8

If not paid in full by June of the previous year, must use FACTS. You can pay a portion of the tuition first before using fax. Tuition due in 10 monthly equal payments-Aug-May and automatically withdrawn from your account. They send me an email the week before to remind me it is scheduled. We can also apply for need based financial aid (not sure what the form is called) and you can ask your home church for a supplement (again, need based).