John Lancaster Spalding Scholarship Information

The John Lancaster Spalding Scholarship is an endowment fund established with contributions from the Diocese of Peoria ROOTED IN FAITH Campaign and named in honor of Archbishop Spalding, the first Bishop of Peoria.  If you would like to make a donation that would provide families the opportunity of a Catholic education for their children, click here. Scholarships in excess of $650,000 were recently awarded for the 2020-2021 school year.

Applications for scholarship grants will be available for the 2022-23 academic year beginning in January 2022. Assistance is open to students enrolling, or intending to enroll, in any Catholic school, grade Kindergarten through 12, located in the Diocese of Peoria whose families are parishioners in the diocese.  All grants will be based on financial need objectively assessed. Information about the grants and application procedure will be available here or by contacting any Catholic elementary or secondary school in the Diocese of Peoria in January 2022. Families of students currently receiving grants are reminded that all grants are for one year only, and anyone seeking to renew a grant for next year must reapply.

Tuition assistance other than the Spalding Scholarship is also available.  The Invest in Kids Act in Illinois authorized a Tax Credit Scholarship Program to provide scholarships for Illinois students to attend non-public schools (grades K-12) in Illinois.  You are encouraged to apply for that assistance as soon as the application process opens in January 2022.  Learn more!

Those intending to apply for the Spalding Scholarship through the Diocese of Peoria should visit: https://online.factsmgt.com/aid.

When the 2022-23 Application opens, families must upload either their federal 2021 OR 2020 tax return. Regardless of which year’s tax return they upload, they must also upload their 2021 W-2’s.

Please complete your applications as soon as possible so that FACTS is not inundated with applications at the deadline date. FACTS will need time to review and verify all families’ supporting documentation. We will do our best to notify schools and families of the awards as near the end of June or shortly thereafter.

PROTOCOLS: 

● A family applying for Spalding Scholarship assistance must be an active member in good standing of a parish in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria. 

● The student[s] for whom the aid is being sought must be enrolled in good standing [or seeking to be enrolled] in grades K through 12 in a Catholic school located in the Diocese of Peoria. 

● All scholarship assistance will be based on a family’s financial need objectively assessed. The diocese will use FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment Services to determine financial need. 

● All scholarship assistance will also be dependent upon the recommendation of the pastor that the family is an active member of the parish in good standing 

● If a student changes schools during a school year, tuition assistance grants will follow the student as long as the student is enrolled in and in good standing in a Catholic school in the Diocese of Peoria and the family is a member in good standing of a parish in the Diocese of Peoria. 

● All awards are for one school year only. A family must apply for Spalding Scholarship assistance each school year. 

● The number of grants and the amount of each grant for the school year will be dependent upon the funds available and the size and need of the applicant pool. 

● Payment of Spalding Scholarship Grants will be made twice a year directly to the Catholic school a student attends. These grants will be applied to the family’s tuition obligation. Tuition assistance grants will be announced prior to the start of the 2022-23 school year. 

PROCEDURES: 

● Families interested in applying for tuition assistance from the Spalding Scholarship Fund must complete a FACTS Grant & Aid Application. This form may be completed online at online.factsmgt.com/aid. Filing online is the fastest and most direct method of submitting the FACTS Grant & Aid Application. A family may also obtain a printed copy of the FACTS Grant & Aid Application from the school that their child attends or will attend, and complete it according to directions.

● The completed FACTS application, the fee ($45), and any required supporting documents are to be filed with FACTS according to their directions. 

● Families must also request the pastor submit a recommendation to the Office of Catholic Schools verifying good standing in the parish and the school respectively. 

● The application process is complete only when the pastor’s recommendation has been submitted to the Office of Catholic Schools and when a completed parent financial aid application, including all required supporting documents and the fee, have been submitted to FACTS. It is important to submit applications and documents as soon as possible. Only completed applications which include supporting documents submitted on or before the submission deadline will be considered when Spalding assistance awards are determined. 

● A Checklist of all steps to complete when submitting an application for a Spalding Scholarship application is available at https://cdop.org/ under Catholic Education and then under Financial Assistance. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the link to the forms. 

● If there are any further questions please contact The High School of Saint Thomas More at 217-352-7210 and ask for Becky Knoblauch, Director of Finance, or by email at rknoblauch@hs-stm.org.