Written by Kimberley Martin, senior content marketing manager, Blackbaud Education, [email protected]
Financial aid in Catholic schools serves multiple purposes: driving new student enrollment, expanding the school’s reach geographically and demographically and supporting and retaining current students. The challenge many schools face is to balance these objectives with the additional goal of awarding financial aid equitably.
Gonzaga College High School offers more than $5 million in need-based financial aid each year, but many Catholic schools have more limited resources. How can they be equitable with the resources they do have? Here are some best practices for schools striving for equity in their financial aid programs.
Establish and Adhere to Financial Aid Policies
The first step towards equity is to establish and adhere to policies in accordance with your school’s goals, documenting essential practices in a financial aid policy manual. This manual can provide guidelines for admissions staff and the financial aid committee, validate award decisions and help ensure consistent and equitable treatment for all families.
In a genuinely equitable program, administrators would have a “blind” process where employees, alums, parishioners, donors, etc. do not get priority. To accomplish this, some schools remove names and other personal information before presenting their committees with applications. Other schools award returning students, siblings of current students, employees’ children, first-generation students or underrepresented populations first. Whichever path you choose, ensure your policy manual delineates your school’s priorities.
Transparency is critical to equity and financial aid. While there may be some internal-only elements to your policy manual, most of it should be available to families. It should:
- Clarify expectations and deadlines
- Explain how to apply for awards
- Describe how and why your school prioritizes decisions
- Outline what you protect for the cost of living
- Detail your school’s privacy policy and security protocols
- Offer an appeals process
Account for Complex Financial Circumstances
To award financial aid equitably, your school must have accurate and thorough data for each family. A generation ago, schools didn’t have to factor in parents’ student loan debt when calculating financial aid. Today, it’s often the first or second largest family financial liability, sometimes exceeding a mortgage. Divorced parents, extended family members assisting with expenses, self-employment, diverse investments and other similar scenarios add to the complexities of family finances.
Many schools choose Blackbaud Financial Aid Management™ to help ensure consistency and accuracy of awards, including AI-driven document review to save time verifying complex data. Administrators can customize the application and calculation settings to design an equitable formula based on their school policies. The software can also help with transparency, applying aid amounts directly to enrollment contracts.
Equity is Different from Equality
The “total cost of attendance” at a Catholic school is more than tuition and fees, and equitable financial aid programs account for other non-tuition expenses like textbooks, uniforms, technology and activities. Equity means each family gets what they need to pursue the same educational opportunities. While one family may only be able to afford 15 percent of the total cost to attend and another can handle 60 percent—and every family will potentially receive a different award—using financial aid software can ensure equitable decisions based on sound data coming from the same calculation model.
Remove Barriers for New Applicants
Families new to Catholic schools and the financial aid process will need guidance. Schools can host virtual or in-person financial aid seminars where staff answer questions and explain how to apply, how the financial aid software works and what other funding sources—such as state vouchers or local scholarships—may be available. These events can alleviate anxiety for firsttime applicants and nurture their relationship with the school. Consider surveying returning families to discover friction points they encountered in the process.
Align Fundraising and Financial Aid
As Catholic schools work toward equity in their financial aid programs, they may need more funds to accomplish their goals. Strategic alignment between the development, admissions and finance teams is critical to bridge the gap.
Many schools have discovered that parents, alums and community members value educational equity and are willing to donate to support those initiatives. Catholic schools can look to the independent school community for examples of successful equity fundraising:
- Groton School’s GRAIN program
- Cranbrook School’s Horizon-Upward Bound program
- Sidwell Friends School’s Equity, Justice, and Community strategic plan
Your advancement team may need to approach long-standing donors about changing their designations and focus more fundraising on unrestricted funds, scholarships, and other forms of financial aid.
Provide Support to Ensure Success
Equity in a Catholic school requires more than financial aid, especially for first-generation students. It’s critical for them to have human support, including mentors, counselors and peers to foster a culture of belonging and help them succeed.
By implementing these best practices and learning from real-life examples, Catholic schools can strive for equity in their financial aid programs, ensuring that all students are able to pursue the same educational opportunities.
