2011-2012 Financial Assistance Guidelines

Financial aid at St. John’s Episcopal Parish Day School is the monetary assistance provided to reduce educational costs to families.  It comes in the form of an outright grant against tuition.  Need is generally defined as the difference between educational expenses and a family’s ability to pay those expenses.  Since eligibility is based on many factors, parents who feel unable to pay the full tuition should always investigate the possibility of receiving financial aid.  St. John’s does provide a limited amount of financial aid  available to assist families who would otherwise find enrollment impossible. 

School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS) is a service of the National Association of Independent Schools, and it is used by St. John’s to help assess a family’s ability to pay school costs.  The SSS process promotes objectivity and consistency in financial aid procedures within our school and among all SSS user schools, and is based on the premise that parents should finance their child’s education to the extent they are able.

The SSS process involves a few basic steps:

• Parents can obtain instructional information and a Parent’s Financial Statement (PFS) on-line @ sss.nais.org or @ www.nais.org. Complete and submit the PFS to SSS using the St. John’s SSS code 6566. There is an SSS fee. 

• *EARLY SUBMISSION IS ADVISED.  The completed PFS is to be sent to SSS no later than March 30, 2011. 

• SSS analyzes the information on the PFS to estimate the family’s ability to pay and report its findings to the School.  Awards of Financial Aid will be given out when all the completed material (including the tax information)  is received and reviewed by the Financial Aid Committee

• IT IS IMPORTANT  for parents to submit to the business office at the School (240 Plant Ave….33606) their 2010 IRS 1040 tax return, complete with all schedules and a copy of all W-2’s or 1099’s.  Also to be included is a copy of the application submitted to SSS.  Mark the mailing to the attention of Jim Armstrong.  All information submitted is strictly confidential.

• The School’s Financial Aid Committee (F.A.C.) uses the SSS results, the IRS 1040 tax return, and other information (including the student’s work ethic, academic ability and demonstrated appropriate behavior) as part of its final financial aid award decision.  Again, the F.A.C. reviews each application once all the information has been received by the business office, so the earlier the application process is completed, the sooner you will be contacted with the F.A.C.’s decision.

If you have any questions, please call Jim Armstrong, Director of Operations, at (813) 849-4200 Ext. 4310.