Financial Aid

FINANCIAL AID GENERAL INFORMATION

Parents send their children to Father Yermo because they perceive a better academic quality, find structure, safety and discipline, and observe religious values integrated with the curriculum. One of Father Yermo’s most significant and meaningful task is to retain students whose parents are struggling with general financial uncertainty; the Scholarship & Tuition Assistance Committee (STAC) carries the tremendous responsibility to retain the students in the school and to help families in their time of need. The STAC makes a meaningful difference enhancing the enrollment and the Catholic education of students. Their goal is to recommend appropriate aid for families, within the guidelines and limitations of funding available to the school.

All requests for aid, appeal for additional help and financial emergencies should be funneled through the Father Yermo Schools Director; the STAC will evaluate and resolve the petition. Even in emergencies parents should be expected to complete the financial aid form and submit the necessary documentation in order to make a fair ruling.

CRITERIA. STAC guidelines for scholarships and financial aid are:

To support families who have been at Father Yermo for one or more years.
Families with a history of making regular tuition payments.
Families with two or more children.
Students active in the school community
Students in good academic standing
Students in good disciplinary standing.
A new family may apply and its case will be discretely reviewed.

RESOURCES.

Tuition assistance & scholarship funds are searched from different sources, as tuition and annual fundraising should balance the budget and allow the school to operate in the black. STAC finds support in:

Unrestricted grants and donations from annual appeal diverted for tuition assistance.
Special events used to fund financial aid to students in need.
A school wide campaign may be conducted to encourage need-based aid donations in extraordinary times.
Individual donors are personally solicited to provide a need-base scholarship package for specific students. Generous persons like to know that their gifts are targeted to a real student.

A THIRD PARTY EVALUATOR

There are several companies which evaluate financial aid applications. The Foundation of the Diocese of El Paso, requests that FACTS Management Company evaluate applications that are submitted to the diocese. This type of evaluation brings fairness and objectivity to the process. Another source for third party evaluator is the application to the National School Lunch Program. Applications made from Juarez residents involve other concerns. The application should include financial statements from the establishment the applicant works and some service receipts.
FACTS Management Procedures . Parents complete financial aid form online or by mail and submit it to the company by a deadline. Typically, these forms require a statement of the family’s personal information, assets, and recent tax forms. Father Yermo’s personnel are available to help parents filling up the form. Parents are provided with an ID that identifies them in FACTS. The Foundation of the Diocese receives directly the response from FACTS; its Board decides amounts and informs the school of scholarships to the families. The Catholic Office Assistance Fund also utilizes FACTS Agency as a third evaluator.

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

Step 1: On February, the School opens the process for eligible children, among student population, or from parents who come and request application. An interview with parent is set with School Director.

Step 2 Director gives out application. Parents will complete all paper work and return all documents to Central Office by March. El Paso residents should include tax return form 1040 and apply through FACTS; Juarez residents enclose receipts and acknowledgment letter from employers. All applications are handed out by the School and returned completed to the school.

Step 3. STAC will review all documentation to verify its completeness. All applications will be compiled at School and the package will be forwarded to the appropriate Foundation.

Step 4: Foundations will review application and inform school of its readiness to proceed.

Step 5: During the last week of April, a personal letter is sent to all families who receive tuition assistance, indicating the name of the student and the amount of aid awarded. Aid is deducted from the tuition balance at the beginning of the school year to reduce monthly payments. For simplicity and clarity, need-based aid is limited to providing tuition help. Fees, books, fundraising, etc., are to be the duty of the family, unless the donor specifies other. Personal attention is given to those families whose request for aid was declined.

INTERACTION WITH FOUNDATIONS.

As a sign of gratitude and stewardship, students are asked to write thank-you notes to those anonymous donors who have provided with the need-based aid.
Once a year, under the supervision of the Director of STAC, thank-you notes and report cards are sent directly to donors.Students may tell donors a little about themselves, how they are doing academically, the program they are participating in, their goals for the future, and how much they appreciate the support. One can never say thank you too many times.

One of Father Yermo Schools most important tasks is to carry on the philosophy to offer holistic valued education to the new generations and to retain students whose parents are struggling with general financial uncertainty. It is then imperative that parents follow the previously mentioned policies in order to create a uniform criterion in the establishment of procedures for scholarship and tuition assistance.