Financial Assistance with Tuition

Scrip Tuition Credit
Scrip is an easy way to reduce your tuition cost and benefit St. Thomas Aquinas Academy, simply by spending money you’d spend anyway. Just buy Scrip cards for the merchants of your choice, and then use those cards as payment for your purchases. Participating Scrip merchants include: Pick ‘n Save, Kohl’s, Blockbuster, Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, J.C. Penney, dozens of area gas stations, restaurants and other merchants.

Each participating merchant donates a percentage of each sale back to St. Thomas Aquinas Academy. This percentage is the “profit” realized by the school. Your tuition balance will be credited with 50% of
the profits generated by your Scrip purchases.

Even if you have already paid your tuition in full before the school year starts, you can still benefit financially from Scrip. Here’s how: contact the Scrip coordinator to request that the 50% profit split be applied toward your fundraiser buy-out instead of tuition. In the event you have no outstanding tuition or fundraising obligation to satisfy, there will be no credit or cash back for your Scrip sales.

Example: Using Scrip to buy groceries at Pick ‘n Save

1. Let’s say you buy Pick ‘n Save Scrip cards totaling $3,000 during the year. You then use these cards for purchases at Pick ‘n Save instead of paying with cash, check, credit card or debit card.
2. Pick ‘n Save donates 3% of your card purchase price – $90 in this case – to St. Thomas Aquinas Academy. Depending on the merchant, the donation may be anywhere from 2% to 20% of the Scrip card value.
3. Your tuition bill is reduced by 50% of $90, or $45.

Note: Scrip sales currently do not count toward the $400 annual fundraising requirement. For more information about Scrip click here.

Parish Assistance
Several of the cluster parishes offer scholarships or other forms of tuition assistance for families of St. Thomas Aquinas Academy students. For more information, contact your parish office.

Choice
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (Choice) allows students from low-income families who reside in the City of Milwaukee to attend any participating private school located in the city at no charge if certain eligibility criteria are met. For details, visit the Choice homepage at http://dpi.wi.gov/sms/choice.html or contact the school office.

St. Gerard Scholarship
The St. Gerard Fund was established in 1997 with the proceeds from the sale of the St. Gerard property and the closing of the parish. The parishioners of St. Gerard established the fund to provide grade school scholarships for Catholic school students in a defined area surrounding the St. Gerard facility. The scholarships will be awarded based primarily on three criteria:

• Volunteerism in the parish, school or community, on behalf of the student or immediate family;
• Demonstrated academic achievement or demonstrated effort by the student; and
• Special financial needs of the student's family.

Each year, the St. Gerard Scholarship Fund awards $500 to selected students in grades 1 through 8. Watch the weekly school newsletter for announcements about the annual application process, and deadline. Students receiving Choice funds are not eligible for the St. Gerard scholarships.

George and Mary Kremer Foundation Grants
St. Thomas Aquinas Academy has been the recipient of a grant from the George and Mary Kremer Foundation in Naples, Florida for the past few years. The Kremer family is a strong supporter of Catholic education in the United States, and we are fortunate to be one of only 318 schools selected to receive this grant. The grant is open to all of registered school families who meet the income criteria as stated on the application. Applications are accepted during the Spring, so watch for announcements at that time.