The need for scholarship money for the diocese’s 28 Catholic schools has necessitated the establishment of the Catholic Schools Scholarship Appeal in late November.
Superintendent Vernell Bowen said a scholarship appeal to all 127 parishes and missions came about after the Pulaski County strategic plan was presented and approved by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor in May.
The plan was written to address the needs for the nine elementary and high schools in Little Rock and North Little Rock. Bowen said she knew the lack of need-based scholarships was really an issue for all schools.
“Rather than focus on Pulaski County alone, we decided to take it across the diocese,” she said.
The idea of a statewide scholarship appeal was presented to the Presbyteral Council for their approval in September.
Instead of appealing for funds during weekend Masses, the Office of Catholic Schools has chosen to mail a letter from the bishop and donation/pledge envelope to all registered households in late November in order to reach more people.
“They were very much in favor of it and doing it in all parishes regardless if they had a school or not,” Bowen said of the council. “A couple of pastors said they knew they had parishioners who benefitted from Catholic schools who want to support Catholic education.”
The appeal’s theme is “Invest in the Future, Continue the Tradition.”
Bowen said the reality is that all schools subsidize the cost to educate each child through donations, fundraisers and parish subsidies.
Some families apply for need-based scholarships to lower the costs of their portion of the tuition, but many schools are not able to cover the entire amount the families need.
“We will supplement what the schools are already doing,” Bowen said the appeal.
She said most schools use a third-party provider like FACTS Management Company to review applications for tuition assistance.
“It really takes the pressure off the pastors and principals on making decisions,” Bowen said. “It really protects the privacy of the parents. … It is a systematic and accountable way of seeing who really has a need.”
An outside agency can fairly gauge the families’ ability to pay based on their tax returns, she said. In some cases a family might qualify for more assistance, but the school is not able to offer as much because of the lack of scholarship funds.
“We want to retain the students we have, but we also want to open up some opportunities so we can increase enrollment for families who have not been able to come,” she said.
Bowen said money from the scholarship appeal will be sent directly to the schools with needs and be only applied to Catholic students at this time.
She said she would like to be able to offer tuition assistance to non-Catholic students as the appeal grows over the years.
It is unknown at this time what the “gap” is between the families’ needs and the schools’ resources. According to FACTS, 908 students from 20 schools qualified for $2.1 million in assistance for the 2013-2014 school year. The diocese has 6,790 Catholic school students, reflecting about 13 percent of students needing scholarships.
Bowen said the diocese plans to conduct the appeal each fall.
“We don’t want to lose students because they can’t afford it,” she said.
Bowen said the scholarship fund is only the first step to recruitment.
“Scholarship availability is only a part of it for retention and enrollment,” she said.