Enroll in FACTS payment plan to save on tuition

amother

Smokey

Wed, Mar 13 2019, 11:21 am

Have you done it and is it worth it?
They ask for tons of info and it’s like welfare office type of questions and I am not happy about putting all that info into computer system online. I offered to give all documentation directly to tuition office but they want me to do FACTS if I want discount which I don’t even know if I will get
Anyone with experience please share

groovy1224

Wed, Mar 13 2019, 11:34 am

It's pretty standard..almost every school I know that offers tuition assistance uses FACTS.

Obviously it's up to you if it's 'worth it' but if your concern is security, I wouldn't worry about it. FACTS is a secure site.

gibberish

Wed, Mar 13 2019, 12:11 pm

Schools use this service to determine who is eligible for a tuition break. FACTS doesn't make the decision, the school does. Each school works differently, but our school requires families to use this service if requesting a tuition break.

amother

Fuchsia

Wed, Mar 13 2019, 12:22 pm

gibberish wrote:

Exactly. FACTS is just the go between. They collect all the paperwork the school is asking for so that the school doesn't have to collect it separately from possibly hundreds of families. Once collected, they turn the documents over to the yeshiva for the yeshiva to make the decision.

amother

Ivory

Wed, Mar 13 2019, 1:46 pm

AFAIK, most private schools outsource financial aid information collection and the initial financial aid amount determination to a third party provider. The school may be able to customize the questions asked or adjust the methodology, and the school has the final say on how much to actually award. This is very normal.

Years ago, I went to an expensive secular private school and the financial aid process required submitting all our family information to the third party provider. That company would send us and the school an amount that was what they calculated our family could afford to pay per year. Then, each year, I would write a letter directly to the school, identifying certain expenses that our family considered necessary, but were not captured in the standard calculations. The school would add $1-2K to my grant award, and add a similar amount in interest-free loan.

amother

Ivory

Wed, Mar 13 2019, 1:55 pm

amother wrote:

While the yeshiva will make the ultimate decision of how much to give out to each family, FACTS is probably doing the initial assessment and recommending an amount to the school based on the information collected. I'm sure OP's school would be happy to explain to clarify the role FACTS plays in their process.

amother

Brown

Wed, Mar 13 2019, 3:08 pm

Op, my school mandates us to fill out FACTS (and pay their fee) in addition to the school's tuition assistance application. We don't have a choice. But, the secretary explained to me that the reason they mandate everyone to do Facts is because some Jewish agency will pay a certain amount of money for certain families who qualify based on what they give to facts.

So, in my case, the school is making the actual decision abou the tuition deduction, but a few people are getting an extra deduction through a Jewish agency. That Jewish agency requires the school to tell all parents (who are asking for tuition deduction) to send their information through FACTS and then the agency picks some of these families and gives extra money for their kids' schooling.