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Share in the Spirit to help parents
pay school tuition
Parishioners throughout Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore will have the opportunity to show their support for Catholic education when the diocese conducts its fifth annual Share in the Spirit tuition assistance collection on September 26-27.
Contributions to the collection, combined with funds from the diocesan Vision for the Future education trust, enable the diocese to open the doors of its elementary and secondary schools to parents who desire a Catholic education for their children but who cannot afford the full cost of tuition.
“A Catholic education should not be available for only those families who can afford it. Rather, it should be in reach to any parent whose desire is to place their child in a learning environment where Jesus is the center of all that they do,” says Deborah Fols, director of the diocese’s Development Office, which administers the tuition assistance program.
Last year, gifts to the diocesan collection totaled $199,749 – representing a near 21 percent drop in contributions from the previous year. However, because the recession has made it increasingly difficult for many families to afford a Catholic education, the diocese has increased the amount allocated for tuition assistance for the 2009-20210 school year, awarding $800,000 to 482 students.
“That’s the good news,” says Fols. “While this support is significant, applications were received from more than 1,000 families totaling 1,616 students. Unfortunately, there was not enough money available to help everyone.”
The Private School Aid Service, which analyzes the aid applications for the Development Office, determined that it would have required more than $4.3 million in assistance to meet the needs of all qualifying families.
For the 2008-2009 school year, the diocese provided $590,000 in aid to 427 students. Aid requests were received from the families of 1,451 students, and overall need was calculated at $3.6 million, the Development Office said.
“The number of families seeking financial aid for education has been rising every year. The cost of education is increasing too, and the resources of many families have been stretched to their limit,” Bishop Malooly said. “Our challenge in these turbulent times is to provide a Catholic education to every child who desires one.”
Even in this difficult economy, diocesan schools represent an excellent value, delivering a high-quality, faith-filled education at moderate cost, says Cathy Weaver, diocesan superintendent of schools.
“Our standards are high and our schools have been very successful in helping students develop their God-given potential at every level — preparing for high school, preparing for college, and preparing for life,” Weaver says.
Noting that diocesan averages on standardized achievement tests consistently surpass national norms, Weaver says that “even with the growth of charter schools and increased choices in public and private schools, we feel that the quality of a Catholic education stacks up well in every way.”
“Catholic schools are worth the investment — not only for parents but also for everyone who cares about the quality of education and the future of our children. The more students we are able to serve, the stronger our Catholic schools become,” she says. In an effort to increase stability throughout the diocesan system, she adds, schools have increased their strategic planning efforts and have begun using a standardized financial data sheet to chart revenue and expense trends.
The diocese launched the Share in the Spirit collection in 2005 in recognition of the increasing need for tuition assistance. To date, the collection has raised nearly $922,000.
“The Share in the Spirit campaign and Vision for the Future education trust demonstrate our commitment to making a high-quality Catholic education available to as many children as possible in all areas of the diocese,” Fols said.
Attitude of gratitude
Parents thankful for help that allows them to afford Catholic education for their children
Few things are more important to Wendi Ward than getting to the 8:30 a.m. Mass at St. Francis de Sales Church each Wednesday during the school year.
All the students at St. Francis de Sales School in Salisbury, Md., including Ward’s two sons, attend that Mass, and they sing and deliver the readings too.
“It means so much more when the kids do the scripture readings,” she says. “I arrange my schedule for Wednesdays so I don’t start work until after Mass.”
Ward has special reasons to be grateful. Her older son, Mac, who just started fifth grade, is autistic, and her younger son, Will, in third grade, suffers from asthma and was recently diagnosed as dyslexic. Both are thriving at St. Francis de Sales, she says.
And neither child would be able to attend the school if it were not for the diocese’s tuition assistance program, which is financed in part by the annual Share in the Spirit special collection, scheduled for Sept. 26-27 this year.
Mac and Will Ward are among the 482 students throughout the diocese whose families are receiving $800,000 in assistance this year from the Vision for the Future education trust.
The diocese, however, received aid requests on behalf of 1,616 students, and their total need, calculated by the Private School Aid Service topped $4.3 million. So, only 30 percent of eligible students were able to receive aid, and grants totaled less than 20 percent of overall need, according to the diocese’s Development Office, which administers the tuition assistance program.
“I can never say ‘thank you,’ enough,” Wendi Ward says. Tuition assistance “is giving my children the opportunity to experience the love and care of a Catholic school.”
Ward’s children came to St. Francis de Sales at the start of the 2007-2008 school year. After losing a full-time sales job because of the time required to take her sons to medical appointments in Baltimore, she could no longer afford private school tuition for Mac. She began working as an in-home caregiver for terminally ill adults, but the hours are less than full-time.
“St. Francis has met my children’s needs unbelievably,” setting up customized educational programs for each one, Ward says. “The staff, the parents, everyone has been so welcoming.”
Mark Record, former principal at St. Francis de Sales and now at Most Blessed Sacrament School, describes Ward as a cooperative and involved parent. “She’s always at the church and school, helping set up the manger at Christmas, assisting in the cafeteria during lunch periods.”
Throughout the diocese, families like the Wards benefit from the tuition assistance program.
Mary Anne DiStefano, a self-employed hair stylist, is receiving assistance so her two youngest children, Emily, 15, and John, who will be 12 on Sept. 19, can attend St. Elizabeth High School and St. Elizabeth Elementary School in Wilmington. Her older daughters, Valerie and Andrea White, 25 and 23, respectively, are St. Elizabeth’s graduates.
DiStefano grew up in St. Hedwig’s parish. Her parents couldn’t afford a Catholic education for their seven children, but she knew that’s what she wanted for her family.
Her older daughters did well in their 13 years at St. Elizabeth’s but, after a second divorce, sending Elizabeth and John to the school posed a financial challenge. This is the sixth year the family has received tuition assistance.
“Even when I was going through my divorce, the school community was a tremendous support system — the teachers, the counselors, the other parents,” DiStefano says. “It was very important for me to keep something stable in their lives.”
She also appreciates the school’s values and standards. “I sacrifice to send them there because they’re getting the best education possible,” she says.
Catholic education has taught her children the importance of giving back. Emily plays junior varsity field hockey and Andrea is now volunteering as an assistant coach, DiStefano says. “How cool is that?”
Melorie Poteat of Wilmington, a dental hygienist, needs tuition assistance so her three daughters, Paige, Gabrielle and Hannah, can attend Cathedral of St. Peter School, a place, she says, where “teachers go above and beyond their job descriptions” and “the school and home are working together.”
She’s pleased that her children receive individual attention and “religious instruction that goes hand in hand with my values and my belief system.”
Poteat, who has received tuition assistance for five of the last six years, is impressed by the spirit shown by her fellow parents and she volunteers frequently at school. “When you see parents who are just as busy as you, if not busier, giving their time,” she says, “you really want to help too.”
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