Student Payment and Parent Payment
Maximum Effort
The student and his family are the primary
beneficiaries of his education. Accordingly, they have
the primary responsibility for paying for it. Since college
education should be a high priority for the family, they
are expected to anticipate the costs of that education
and make financial preparations for it. Institutional
aid is available to assist, not to replace, the personal
and family resources of the student. The general principle
applied in all aid decisions, therefore, is that the student
and his parents must make a maximum effort to pay as much
of the cost of tuition, room and board as they can.
If a student and his parents are willing to make a maximum
effort, the College will then provide institutional aid
on the basis of demonstrated financial need. The College
reserves full discretion in determining what constitutes
a "maximum effort" and "demonstrated financial
need" in any particular case.
Maximum Effort and Charitable Giving
The opening question found on the College's Confidential
Family Financial Statement (CFFS) asks the family to indicate
how much the student and parents are able to pay toward the
coming year's tuition, room and board. Please be generous when
making a payment proposal on the CFFS. If resources are scarce,
your family may want to consider redirecting a portion of their
charitable giving toward tuition for, traditionally, whatever
is paid toward Catholic education may be counted as a portion
of one's charitable giving.
The Church encourages the faithful to be generous in
supporting Catholic education, for it is an apostolic
work; one ordered toward the spiritual benefit of those
who receive it and the Church at large. Canon Law (222
and 800.2) exhorts the Christian faithful to be generous
in their support of apostolic works, including Catholic
education, and to provide for the decent sustenance of
those who carry out these ministries. As our Lord said,
"the laborer deserves his food" (Matt. 10:10).
St. Thomas, when explaining the tithe in the Summa Theologica
(II-II,Q.87,A.2-3) explains that one of the reasons for
tithing is to provide for the material support of those
who are attending to our spiritual needs (cf. I Cor. 9:11).
Therefore, Thomas Aquinas College exhorts you and your family
to be generous in proposing what you are able to pay toward
tuition. We hope that you will go beyond what you might expect
to pay at a secular college. Remember, whatever portion
you cannot afford to pay yourself, must be paid by the charitable
contributions of others.
Although you may not deduct your tuition payment as a charitable
contribution for tax purposes, you or your parents may be able
eligible for an education tax credit. The HOPE Tuition
Tax Credit can reduce your taxes by as much as $1,500 and the
Lifetime Learning Tuition Tax Credit can reduce your taxes by
as much as $2,000. For more information regarding these tax
benefits, see IRS Publication 970 "Tax Benefits for Education."
Student Payment
The College expects each student to seek gainful employment
during the summer and to save as much as possible to pay toward
his tuition, room and board. $1,800 is the minimum expectation
but greater summer earnings may call for a larger student payment.
Financial aid awards also presume that if a student has more
than $1,000 in savings, 35% of the excess will be paid toward
tuition, room and board.
The student payment must be paid by registration unless
prior written authorization has been provided by the Financial
Aid Office.
Parent Payment
As stated above, the College sincerely asks parents to be generous
in their payment proposal. At the same time, the College uses
the Confidential Family Financial Statement (CFFS), the
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), prior
year tax returns and other forms as necessary, to collect information
needed to ensure that all parents are meeting a fair and equitable
standard.
The College's need analysis is a variant of the "Federal
Methodology" used by most colleges in the U.S. The
College has modified the federal need analysis, giving
it more heart in some ways and making it more stringent
in others. The federal need analysis is given more heart
by taking into account special circumstances which families
face, such as the cost of tuition for younger children
and high medical/dental expenses, but the need analysis
is also made more accountable in several ways, for example,
by taking into consideration resources which the federal
need analysis ignores such as education tax credits.
If needed, the Business Office at Thomas Aquinas College offers
helpful short-term financing (see the following section on Payment
Plans). There are also longer-term financing options available
such as the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS)
or various alternative education loan programs. If parents are
interested in learning more about a PLUS Loan or an alternative
education loan, they should contact the Financial Aid Office.
Payment Plans
The College offers parents three payment plans:
- a Single-Payment Plan requiring payment in full by August
1, 2008;
- a Two-Payment Plan requiring half-payments by July 1, 2008
and December 1, 2008; or
- a Ten-Payment Plan requiring ten installment payments spanning
from July 1, 2008 through April 1, 2009.
Under the Single-Payment Plan and the Two-Payment Plan
the College provides parents with an early payment discount
if the student is not receiving a grant from the College
or a Cal Grant. Currently, a $500 early payment discount
is given to those who pay using the Single-Payment Plan
and a $300 early payment discount is given to those who
pay using the Two-Payment Plan ($150 each semester). The
amounts of the discounts may be adjusted from year to
year.
If the family's payment includes outside scholarships,
student loans or work-study, those items must be paid
by the end of the respective semester, otherwise the discount
will be charged back to the student's account. If the
student withdraws during the semester, the discount for
that semester will be charged back to his account.
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