Jeff Wilson, FundEDU Founder & President
Every time the new federal scholarship tax credit is mentioned, somebody hears the words “tuition scholarship” and stops listening. Some of them stop, because they work in public schools and assume this program is only meant for private schools. The rest stop, because they already know what a tuition scholarship is.
Both groups are missing the important part.
We already know how it can be spent!
This program, thankfully, doesn’t come with its own list of what a scholarship can cover. It points instead to the rules that already govern existing programs, such as educational savings accounts and even some other tax credit programs.
These rules are far more expansive than just tuition. Required Fees. Academic tutoring. Books, supplies, and equipment. Special needs services, for students who are determined eligible. Uniforms, transportation, and extended day programs. Computer technology and internet access.
Many, if not all of those items would be considered part of the “Cost of Attendance” examined by families before selecting a school.
Two buckets, not one
The easiest way to picture these fees would be to group them into two buckets, based on when they apply. The first simply requires a child being enrolled in school:
- Tuition
- Academic tutoring
- Books, supplies, equipment
- Technology at home
These are all eligible categories that a family can expend scholarship funding on, without your school requiring or providing it.
The second bucket works differently, and only comes into play when a school requires or provides it:
- Uniforms
- Transportation
- Extended day
- Supplementary items and services
That second test puts you in an unusual position, because your school is both the beneficiary and the gatekeeper. Items like after school tutoring, or extended day become fundable partly because you are the one running it.
Of course, the Treasury hasn’t published final rules, so the specific edges of these categories could move. The two-bucket shape, though, is the foundation this program is built on, and has been for years.
So, it’s time to start counting
Not just your tuition number. Every number. Consider things like registration, technology, activity fees, athletics, the lab fee, the retreat fee, aftercare, the bus, and/or the uniform requirement that sends every family to the same supplier or two every August.
Personally, I challenge every school leader to write down a guess, then run the arithmetic, and see how much you surprise yourself. However, this is the number that is invisible in almost every affordability conversation that gets had. For a family already eligible for, or receiving tuition assistance, it may be the only remaining barrier.
And yes, this includes district schools
It is important to continue to highlight that students in public schools can be eligible for scholarships as well. All of Treasury’s published material describes schools as including public, private, and religious schools alike.
So any eligible family can be helped with items like the technology their child needs, or the extended day program that lets a parent keep a shift. Homeschool families may qualify as well, though that turns on how state law treats home education, so check your state department of education for more details!
What to do before September
Review your fee schedule. For each line, write down three things: what it likely costs a family annually, how many students are charged or pay it, and if your school requires or provides it.
Then write the harder list.
The reading specialist hours you cut. The aftercare slots you cap. The Title-funded support that disappears in March. The services you refer families out for because you can’t staff them. Those are things you could potentially provide, or expand access to, if additional funding was available.
When you sit down with a scholarship organization, bring the second list. This gets you beyond the ask that everyone will be making, and gives you a specific accounting of what your families may struggle to afford.
