Tuition Assistance
Tuition assistance at Good Shepherd has two components: Indiana Choice Scholarships and our internal Family Support Fund.
Choice Scholarships
The first step for families seeking tuition assistance is to review eligibility for a Choice Scholarship Program award, or voucher, through the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). Around 97% of Indiana students age 5 or older qualify for the Choice Scholarship Program. For planning purposes, you can review eligibility requirements for the 2024–2025 school year on the IDOE website. The Indiana General Assembly will finalize these guidelines for the 2025—2026 school year when they meet in early 2025.
The specific amount of the Choice Scholarship depends on the public school district in which a family resides. The estimated award for students living in the South Bend Community School Corporation district is $7,168.89 for the 2024–2025 school year. Our business office can assist families with estimates for other school districts.
Good Shepherd will work with families of returning and newly accepted students to complete the required application for Choice Scholarships. This process will begin in March for new families and in April.
Family Support Fund
Families with children under age 5 or who seek additional support beyond the Choice Scholarship may apply for financial aid directly from Good Shepherd through the Family Support Fund (FSF). To be considered for aid from the FSF, families must also apply for a Choice Scholarship if eligible.
The FSF application is administered through a third-party software system that uses a family’s financial data to calculate financial need. We recommend you gather the required documents before starting the application. Families with multiple children only need to complete one FSF application. A fee of $35 ($45 if a family owns a business) is charged by the software program to complete the financial aid application. GSMS does not receive any part of that fee.
The initial FSF application deadline is February 15th for both new and returning families.
Applications received after February 15th will only be considered once our first round of acceptances have been completed. We strongly advise new and returning families to complete their FSF applications by February 15th as we rarely have additional funds after that time. Please note that new families must also have submitted enrollment applications for each child and paid the applicable fees before the February 15th deadline to be considered for FSF grants.
Both new and returning families are also invited to submit a letter of special circumstances if they feel the FSF application does not fully capture their family’s current financial situation. These letters should be emailed to enrollment@gsms.org and should be received no later than February 15th, so they may be reviewed alongside a family’s FSF application.
For more information about the Family Support Fund application, contact Nancy Kirbie, Assistant Operations Manager, at (574) 288–0098 or nkirbie@gsms.org.