1. Do you tell us how much assistance we should give to each family?
2. How long does it take to process an application?
3. How can your calculations be accurate for so many different economic areas and situations?
4. Is there any help for me in running our program?
5. What do you do about exceptions?
6. How do I know how much aid to give out?
7. Do you find that parents actually tell the truth about their finances?
8. How would this service help our school?
9. What is different about the CFA?
10. What do you do with the information?
11. When a report comes back, do we just give out the money?
12. Should there be any restrictions on the grant?
13. How much should we budget for TA?
14. Who should apply?
15. How much does it cost?
16. How confidential is the process?

1. Do you tell us how much assistance we should give to each family?
No, we leave the control in your hands. We tell you how much families should be able to afford to pay towards tuition. From there you can determine how much to award, based on your budget, deadlines, and priorities.

2. How long does it take to process an application?
That would be measured in nanoseconds. The moment a parent submits their application online you will receive an email telling you that their report is ready. If a parent mails or faxes their application the information will be available within three working days. No need to pay double for priority treatment.

3. How can your calculations be accurate for so many different economic areas and situations?
Two reasons. First, we base our calculations on each family's current financial situation, taking into account all sources of income, basic living expenses, assets and liabilities, as well as funds they might expect from friends, family and church. (To award based on income only does not consider widely varying situations.) Second, we allow the school the customize thresholds and settings to fit their parents and their tuition levels.

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4. Is there any help for me in running our program?
Well, we probably wouldn't have put the question in here if we didn't have the right answer. When you enroll as a client with CFA you will receive a comprehensive manual entitled "A One-Day Tuition Assistance Program." This manual provides you with oodles of helpful information and forms. Our helpful personnel are always ready to assist you on the phone as well.

5. What do you do about exceptions?
The application provides a place where parents can indicate to you that you should be looking for that written request. The application instructions tell parents that if they have unusual or extenuating circumstances, that they must submit a request for exception to the school in writing. The manual gives good guidance on dealing with exceptions.

6. How do I know how much aid to give out?
Your FACT (Family Anticipated Contribution Total) report will tell you how much they should be able to afford to pay towards tuition. From there you can determine how much to award, based on your budget, deadlines, and priorities.

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7. Do you find that parents actually tell the truth about their finances?
For the most part parents give honest answers to the questions. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they make mistakes. Because of this, our simple, yet methodical worksheets step parents through the application, bill by bill. This helps alleviate a good deal of error. In addition to this, every report has "Verification Messages" that appear when the information they provided falls outside of reasonable parameters. When a "Verification Message" appears on your school's report, you simply call the parents and explain that there are certain documents they are required to bring in for verification.

8. How would this service help our school?

1. Your enrollment may increase because you can make scholarship decisions within days of when a family applies with our instant online application process.
2. Your life is simplified when we take the process off of your desk and put it onto ours.
3. Your stress is relieved because you don't need to make the scholarship decision on your own. When a parent doesn't like their award, you can blame it on us.
4. Your load is lightened with our manual "A One-Day Tuition Assistance Program." This manual takes the work out of setting up committees, assigning responsibilities, determining job descriptions, etc.
5. Your professional image is enhanced when you out-source to a third party firm specializing in evaluating family finances.
6. We know there's more, but why not register today and find out for yourself!

9. What is different about the CFA?
Every assessment service is a little different, but we will list a few ways in which we differ so you can make an informed comparison:

1. We tell you how much a family can afford to pay towards tuition - some others will tell you how much to give each family as a grant.
2. We base our calculations on a family's current income and expenses - some others use last year's AGI or only income, disregarding varying expenses and changing situations.
3. We allow families to claim charitable giving as a basic living expense - some others don't.
4. We give you your reports instantaneously (or if mailed, within 3 working days) - others typically take 3-5 weeks unless parents pay more for expedited treatment.
5. Some services don't verify the information provided by parents, others do. The truth is, if you verify it, it's much quicker (because the parents can bring the info directly to you the next day) and less expensive. We give you the option: either you can verify the parent's information (and we'll tell what needs to be verified), or you can have us do that for you.

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10. What do you do with the information?
We put the family's finances into a formula that accurately calculates how much they can afford to pay towards tuition on a monthly basis. We then send an email to the school notifying them that a report is ready for printing.

11. When a report comes back, do we just give out the money?
You can. It seems that each school uses the information in their own way. You will receive a report that states how much the families can afford to pay. The difference between this number and their tuition is how much they need to bridge the gap. Some schools only pay a portion of that gap (depending upon how much money they have to give out), others place a maximum on the award (such as never awarding more than 50% of the tuition). Sometimes schools will work with pre-set levels - for instance, if a family needs less than $50 per month they get nothing; if they need between $50 and $100 per month, they will receive $50 per month, etc. Whatever system works best for your school works best for us as well.

12. Should there be any restrictions on the grant?
We recommend a couple:

1. That scholarship recipients maintain at least a "C" average.
2. That recipients maintain behavioral standards (such as: if they receive anything more severe than in-school suspension that they will jeopardize their scholarship).
3. If the school makes an exception that grants a family more than what policy indicates, that they may place additional requirements on the family. (For instance, if the school awards more than 50% scholarship because of a family's excessive debt, the school may require that they meet with a financial counselor.)

13. How much should we budget for Tuition Assistance?
If you're asking this question, you may want to give us a call or view our video on tuition assistance budgeting. You may also want to look into a PinPoint Parent Opinion Survey. In the written report to this survey we will step you through 6 criteria that will determine first, whether or not you can increase tuition, and second, precisely how much you will need to budget for tuition assistance. The simplest answer is 3-7% of your budget for current families - twice that if you want to use tuition assistance to attract new, lower income, families from the community.

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14. Who should apply?
When tuition exceeds 10% of a family's net income, it becomes difficult to pay. (Less than 10% for incomes under $30,000.) So we usually advise schools to tell parents "If tuition exceeds 10% of your net income, you should apply. You may receive something, you may not - it all depends on your FACT report."

15. How much does it cost?

• New school registration: $100
• Re-registration for continuing school clients $35/$50
• Parents applying online $18; via fax or paper $23

16. How confidential is the process?

1. The only individuals to ever see a family's financial information are: the parents, CFA staff, and the school's financial aid committee.
2. All online information is secured with SSL 128 bit encryption.
3. All paper and faxed applications and reports are shredded after 1 year.
4. Absolutely no information about parents and/or schools is shared with anyone.

Now that's confidentiality!

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