Financial Aid Management for Small Schools

Financial Aid

In the financial aid management process, it is crucial for you to gather all of the important details on your students so you know exactly what to calculate. This process does not need to be complicated, especially if you use the right school management system that has the proper measures set in place to ensure that your school grants awards in a streamlined and unbiased manner.

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While every applicant may not qualify for aid, everyone must have equal access to apply. SchoolCues has partnered with BeneFAQ (Benevolent Financial Aid Qualification) by SchoolRIGHT to help provide affordable, up-to-date, and on-time assessment of family financial conditions for private K-12 schools just like yours. Using BeneFAQ assures schools accuracy of need of every applicant, taking the guesswork out of granting tuition aid, and helping keep schools in compliance with IRS requirements. This enables and empowers the school to make informed and unbiased financial aid decisions.

Once you register as a school (the annual fee for schools is waived as long you remain a SchoolCues client), SchoolRIGHT will send you some brief training videos for you and additional information to place on your website and share with your parents about using the system.

For parents, the process is quite simple:

Step 1: Parents visit www.benefaq.com, click on parent login, and create a new account.

Step 2: Once registered, the parents will click to “apply,” select their school by school number or name in the drop-down list, pay a small fee of $35, and then gain access to complete their application.

Step 3: Once parents submit their application and requested documents, BeneFAQ will begin the verification process. Common items required to complete the application include pay stubs and tax returns. Once a family has submitted all requested items and answered any clarifying questions from the BeneFAQ staff, their application will be completed and the school can then read the report. The entire verification process is typically completed in 3-5 business days, but is contingent upon how quickly a family provides the requested information and clarifications.

The FACT report (Family Anticipated ContributionTotal) helps guide the school to understand what a family can afford to pay toward their monthly tuition amount so they can make a wise award offer to a family. Keep in mind that the same application will be filled out by all of the parents who choose to apply for financial aid, so there is no bias in awarding grants. The staff at BeneFAQ always provides very timely customer support to schools and families.

Financial Aid 3

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Tuition Aid Verification on Another Level

BeneFAQ is not only the most affordable tuition aid verification solution for schools among all such services on the market, but also comprehensive, accurate, fast, and provides second to none customer service to its schools and parents. From the moment you sign on with BeneFAQ, you will be treated as customer #1.

What is BeneFAQ?

BeneFAQ is a secure online application that provides schools an affordable, up-to-date, and on-time assessment of a family's financial condition and ability to make tuition payments. Since 1996 (formerly as Confidential Financial Services, or “CFS”), our concise and comprehensive verification process has assured accuracy of need, taken the guesswork out of granting tuition aid, and kept schools in compliance with IRS requirements.

How it Works

The BeneFAQ “FACT Report” (Family Anticipated Contribution Total) summarizes what discretionary money a family has at the end of each month and reports a percentage of that amount as income that can be reasonably used toward tuition. The application summarizes the family's average monthly income for the year minus their average necessary monthly expenses and then multiplies that by various adjustment percentages that are determined by answers previously supplied on the application. This allows us to provide the FACT number that is generated in real-time for the school.

Why Spend What Other Companies Charge?

By design, BeneFAQ keeps its overhead low and does not charge anything close to its competitors’ prices. SchoolCues clients pay no annual fee to use BeneFAQ. Parents pay an online application fee of just $35.

Combine Our Financial Aid Management System With Our Other Modules for a More Streamlined Experience

Student Information System: Award financial aid grants to your students using our robust student information system for efficient delivery.

Communication Module: Don’t forget to set reminders to be sent out about filling out the application on time! There are a number of features in our communication module that you can take advantage of including text alerts, emails, newsletters, audio/video communications and a lot more.

Financial aid management for education is easy and fast with SchoolCues. Now all you need to do is contact us to schedule a free demo, and you can start using our system to give families the aid that they deserve. Student financial management has never been simpler!

About SchoolCues

SchoolCues is the premier online school management system for small schools – Montessori schools, Independent schools, Christian schools, Charter schools, Islamic schools and more – that is effective in engaging parents.

Our effective modules include online admissions and enrollment, payments, student information system, gradebook, COVID-19 screening, financial aid management, fundraising, communications and parent engagement.

For more information to integrate this intelligent online school management system and increase parental engagement by simplifying your school administration, visit the SchoolCues website at www.schoolcues.com.