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EDCHOICE INFO 2023-2024 – includes tuition refund timeline

Posted on October 10, 2023

TUITION REFUND TIMELINE – After we receive your child’s first tuition payment from the State, any refunds due will be processed operating within these parameters:

  • Attendance for the previous month(s) is uploaded to the State by the 10th of EACH month.
  • Tuition checks for the previous month(s) are typically issued by the end of the month.
  • The refund of any tuition (if applicable) will depend on the timing cycle for attendance reporting AFTER the scholarship is Awarded AND your completion and return of the Acceptance Form to St. Mary School.
  • The Acceptance of the scholarship is subject to the State assigning the SSID# to your student. We do not have control over this process.  More details are below on the SSID#.
  • Your FACTS Tuition account will reflect any refund that will be processed.  You will receive on refund check for your total refund due.
  • St. Mary School tuition billing office will issue refund checks, and they will be mailed to your home.  Please allow 7-10 business days for your refund once we receive your first month’s tuition payment from the State of Ohio.

i.e., You return your Acceptance Form, and we accept Johnny’s scholarship on October 20.  The next cycle of attendance upload will be November 10.  St. Mary School would receive Johnny’s first tuition payment from the State of Ohio at the end of November.  Your refund will be issued after the posting of that tuition payment into your FACTS tuition account and the cutting of a check that will be mailed to your home.

TUITION PAYMENTS

Please continue to make your tuition payments. We will adjust your FACTS account once the Ohio Department of Education notifies us of your award. Any account that is paid in full or if any refund is warranted, you will receive that refund once the school has started to receive your monthly payments from the State of Ohio.  (Read above the timeline of refunds.)  When we are notified of your award, the $250 Administrative Fee charged to EdChoice recipients at re-registration time will be adjusted for in FACTS

We appreciate your patience as our front office and the tuition billing office work to process and update all our family’s scholarship and tuition accounts.

STILL WAITING FOR YOUR SCHOLARSHIP TO BE AWARDED?

Here are tips we have received from the State of Ohio to check on your status:

  • What is the current status of the INCOME VERIFICATION application you submitted? (St. Mary School DOES NOT have access to this information).
  • You DO have access to this information!
  • Log into your Income Verification app to review the current status of your income application. PLEASE DO THIS ON A LAPTOP OR DESKTOP COMPUTER.
  • If you log on and see the income status is “Submitted,” you have not yet been pulled from the queue.
  • You can click on the Green H in the upper left corner to verify the current status, any change, and when it occurred.
  • The State of Ohio thanks you for your patience as they process the Income Verification Applications in the order of submission.
  • If the online status for your Income Verification shows Income Completed and your scholarship is still not in an Awarded status, please take a screenshot and email it to edchoice@stmaryhp.org

ALL STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR AN EDCHOICE SCHOLARSHIP!

The passage of HB33 this summer makes every student in the State of Ohio eligible for the EdChoice Expansion Scholarship. The Ohio Department of Education has an application deadline of October 15 to receive full-year funding available for your household. The St. Mary School deadline to receive your EdChoice Request documents is October 1 to provide adequate processing time to meet the October 14 deadline. After the deadline, scholarships will be prorated and awarded according to the date of acceptance. You must continue paying tuition until the State of Ohio confirms your scholarship award. Take a look at the chart below to see what your award would be…

 

ALL EDCHOICE RESOURCES, INCLUDING LINKS TO REQUEST FORMS AND MORE CAN BE FOUND HERE

INCOME VERIFICATION LINK

NOTE: If you are experiencing issues accessing the EdChoice Income Verification System in OH|ID, you may use this link to access the application system. You will need to have an existing OH|ID account for the link to work. 

If you do not have an existing OH|ID, you may create an account and log in using the Open My Apps button on the Portal Help page. After you log in, under Web Systems, click Application Request. Change the Application to Income Verification in the dropdown box and click submit*. After a moment, your screen should reload with access to the Income Verification tile. 

*If the dropdown box under Membership Requested is blank or does not let you move forward, first request Scholarship under Application and then request Income Verification.

TUITION PAYMENTS

Please continue to make your tuition payments. We will adjust your FACTS account once the Ohio Department of Education notifies us of your award. Any account that is paid in full or if any refund is warranted, you will receive that refund once the school has received the funds. When we are notified of your award, the $250 Administrative Fee charged to EdChoice recipients at re-registration time will be adjusted for in FACTS.

Post-application steps:

  • PLEASE RETURN THE ACCEPTANCE FORM TO ST. MARY SCHOOL AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE IT IN THE POSTAL MAIL.*
  • Or, You may return THIS ACCEPTANCE FORM WHEN YOU SEE THE SCHOLARSHIP IS IN AN AWARDED STATUS IN THE PARENT PORTAL. 
  • Email the acceptance form to edchoice@stmaryhp.org or send the hard copy to the front office in an envelope marked EdChoice Acceptance.

*RETURN an ACCEPTANCE FORM

Promptly returning the Acceptance Form to St. Mary School triggers the following actions by SMS:

  1. We ACCEPT the Scholarship. Without this form, your Scholarship stays in an Awarded status. If your scholarship remains in an Awarded status, you continue to be responsible for all the tuition.
  2. Once accepted, we will update your FACTS tuition account with your child’s scholarship award, which will show any credit or remaining balance.  These updates will occur at least weekly.   Once updated, you’ll be able to view your balance or credit status (if applicable) in FACTS.
  3. Your child is assigned an SSID# (Statewide Student Identifier) shortly after the scholarship is awarded…could be a few days or longer. The SSID# must be assigned prior to Acceptance. Sometimes there is a bit of a delay in this step. The school office monitors this daily!
  4. When the Scholarship is in an ACCEPTED status, the school can then upload the required monthly attendance for your student into the EdChoice system, which triggers the monthly payments of your child’s tuition to SMS.
  5. The State of Ohio pays your scholarship in monthly increments. 
  6. TUITION REFUND TIMELINE – After we receive your child’s first tuition payment from the State, any refunds due will be processed operating within these parameters:
  • Attendance for the previous month(s) is uploaded to the State by the 10th of EACH month.
  • Tuition checks for the previous month(s) are typically issued by the end of the month.
  • The refund of any tuition (if applicable) will depend on the timing cycle for attendance reporting AFTER the scholarship is Awarded AND your completion and return of the Acceptance Form to St. Mary School.
  • As mentioned above, the Acceptance of the scholarship is subject to the State assigning the SSID# to your student. We do not have control over this process.
  • Your FACTS account will reflect any refund that will be processed.
  • St. Mary School tuition billing office will issue refund checks, and they will be mailed to your home.

We appreciate your patience as our front office and the tuition billing office work to process and update all our family’s scholarship and tuition accounts.