Tuition and Financial Aid

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School uses FACTS Management to process tuition payments. Once your child is accepted you will create a FACTS account and schedule your tuition payments that best suits your financial needs. A one-time convenience fee of 1.5% is assessed tuition and extended day balances not paid in full. 

Monthly Payments: (June-April)
Spread your tuition balance over 11 monthly installments.

Semi-Annual Payment Plan: (June and December)
Spread your payments over 2 installments.

FAQs on FACTS Tuition Management

We are a parish school committed to offering affordable tuition for our St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church parishioners. To qualify for the next school year, families need to meet the following specific criteria each calendar year. These requirements include: 

1. At least one parent must be Catholic, registered with St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, and fully participating in the Sunday liturgy and sacramental life of our parish for a minimum of one year.
    
2. Children attending St. Thomas Aquinas School must be receiving or preparing to receive all sacraments, appropriate for their age, up to the point of entry into the school.
    
3. An active, participating parish family in good standing is one who is actively involved in parish life as manifested by traceable stewardship of time, talent, and treasure. Families must have an established contribution record at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church for one calendar year prior to application and must have given the minimum $900 to the church offertory in calendar year 2024 to qualify for the active parishioner tuition rate in 2025-2026. If transferring from another Catholic parish, families must provide documentation for/or proof of giving to their previous church.

Families of current students re-enrolling for the next school year must reach a minimum threshold of $1,400 in this calendar year by giving to the following funds:

St. Thomas Aquinas Parish Offertory* – minimum of $900.00 

Monsignor John T. Gulczynski Endowment Fund – minimum of $300.00

Annual GAP Drive – minimum of $200.00

Contributions to the Parish Offertory must be made on a consistent basis through Faith Direct - at least monthly. Families who miss one or more months of contributions are expected to meet  the minimum threshold by December 31st.

Volunteer Hours

Families applying to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School do not need volunteer hours.

The goal of the volunteer service hours policy is to increase parent participation in the parish and the school. At St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School, we rely on committed school families to be part of the life of the school. All enrolled families must complete a minimum of 20 adult volunteer service hours each calendar year. New families must volunteer a minimum of 8 hours between August and December.

Volunteers must be cleared by the Safe Environment officer, and volunteer hours must be logged in FACTS by the end of the calendar year.

Examples of volunteer hours include: Carnival, Auction, STAPA, Holy Name Society, Altar Society, Mothers' Association, Lector, Eucharistic Minister, Library, Science Lab, Art Department, Material Moms and Dads, Scouts, Athletics and Booster Club.

Make sure you log your hours in FACTS SIS.
Here's how:

• Log in to the My STA App
• Go to Volunteer Hours icon
• Use your FACTS SIS user name and password
• Click on add + in the Service Hours panel below your name
• Add your hours and the description
• Be sure to change the default date to reflect the correct calendar year

Families and applicants not meeting all of the above criteria will be classified as Non-Contributing Parishioners.

It is the goal of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School to educate children of parishioners who desire a Catholic education. Priority consideration is given to current parishioners although administration will make decisions as to the admission of all new students, in grades PK through 8th grade, based on a holistic look at the application file. The school reserves the right to conduct pre-admission assessments for all applicants to determine the ability of the school to meet a student’s individual needs. 

All completed applications will be reviewed in the following order (this is not a guarantee of enrollment):

Catholic Parishioners of STA Church whose children are baptized Catholic.

1. Applicants who are siblings of currently enrolled students

2. Applicants of new families

Catholic Families Not Parishioners of STA Church whose children are baptized Catholic.

3. Applicants who are siblings of currently enrolled students

4. Applicants of new families

Non-Catholic Families

5. Applicants who are siblings of currently enrolled students

6. Applicants of new families

Financial aid is available on a limited basis with a priority going to families who are registered and have been contributing members of the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church for at least one year. Tuition assistance is based upon the family’s financial need, as determined by FACTS and reviewed by a tuition assistance committee. Deliberations and decisions made by the committee are strictly confidential. The maximum amount of assistance awarded from tuition assistance is not to exceed 1/4 of total tuition. STA will communicate decisions on tuition assistance via email to applicants by May 1.

Tuition assistance is awarded annually, and all awards are made on a year-by-year basis. There is no guarantee that a student who receives assistance one year will be offered tuition assistance at the same or comparable levels in subsequent years. Tuition assistance must be applied for each year.

Admission and tuition assistance decisions are made independently. New applicants must have completed the admissions process in order to be considered for tuition assistance. Current students applying for assistance must be in good standing to be considered for awards.

How to Apply for Tuition Assistance
Complete the FACTS online application for Grant and Aid. The deadline to apply is April 1, although we encourage everyone to apply during the Diocesan Priority Application Round (Nov 1-Jan 5).

FACTS ONLINE APPLICATION

The Dallas Diocesan  was established for the purpose of providing tuition assistance to parents who desire to educate their children in a Catholic elementary and/or secondary school owned and operated by the Diocese of Dallas or one of its parishes. Learn more.

Priority Round deadline for current families is December 20, 2024
Priority Round Awards announced by Diocese - March 2025
(Only open to families currently receiving aid)
Regular Round - December 21, 2024 - March 20, 2025
(Open to current and new families enrolled in a Diocesan school)
Regular Round Awards announced - May 16, 2025

ACE SCHOLARSHIPS – K TO 12^TH GRADE – NEW AND RETURNING STUDENTS

ACE Scholarships provide additional assistance to low-income families in eligible private schools with students in kindergarten through 12^th grade in thirteen U.S. states. In order for a family to apply, the school must have received approval from ACE and completed a 2025-26 ACE School Scholarship Agreement.

The 2025-26 ACE Scholarships application for new and returning students will open on Monday, February 3, 2025. Applications will close on Tax Day (April 15, 2025) at 11:59 p.m. in the school’s time zone. Information can be found at: acescholarships.org.

ACE Scholarships use a different FACTS link. Beginning last year, parents will need to apply on a separate ACE FACTS link (not the same as the Diocese/Schools link). However, parents who applied on FACTS in 2025-26 will not need to pay the $45 fee again, as long as they have already applied for Diocesan financial aid and use their existing FACTS Grant & Aid login (do not create a new one).

Detailed information, including updated income eligibility guidelines, will be provided in late January prior to the application opening. Additionally, important information for both parents and schools can be found in their Help Center.

FACTS ONLINE APPLICATION