In order for us to allocate and hold funds for your child, you have to do two things:

1. Your child has to remain in private school.   If they move to a public, charter or home schools, even for a day, we can’t allocate the funds to your family.
2. You have to keep a current application with Arizona Tuition Connection.

If you do these two things we can allocate funds for your child thru 12^th grade.

The law allows a student to start the school year on ESA, then move to tax credit scholarships at the end of any quarter.  Parents need to consult with their school before they do this as most schools do not allow parents to do this.   Do to the complexities involved tracking this change, most schools require parts to choose either tax credits or ESA for the entire school year.

Higher Income Families: If your child is not eligible for low-income corporate scholarships, the best strategy is to utilize the guaranteed ESA (Empowerment Scholarship Account) funding until the tax credit scholarships exceed the ESA amount. In the year your child receives more in tax credit scholarships than the ESA amount, switch from ESA to using the allocated tax credits. For example, if the ESA amount is $7,000, continue using ESA until you accumulate more than $7,000 in tax credit scholarships for your child. Remember, tax credit scholarships come from donations where your child is recommended to receive those funds.

Low to Medium Income Families: If your child is eligible for low-income corporate scholarships, the best strategy is to apply to multiple STOs (School Tuition Organizations) to maximize low-income corporate scholarships. This approach typically provides more funding than using ESA. Additionally, continue to receive tax credit scholarships where your child is recommended to receive those funds.

We currently offer 3 convenient ways to apply for scholarships.

1. Online.  You will start by creating an online profile so that you can save progress and revisit your applications. Apply online here.
2. Apply-by-Phone.  If you would prefer to have one of our team members assist you this process, you can call us at: (480) 409-4106, or make an appointment by clicking here. Please be prepared to provide the gross income for each member of your household matching the previous year’s tax filing.
3. Download a paper application. Once completed, you can mail to:
   11445 E Via Linda #2-145
   Scottsdale AZ, 85259
   Or scan and email to: applications@arizonatuitionconnection.com

The year before your child attends K-12 private school is the perfect time to plan ahead! Individuals can donate and recommend your child to receive those funds starting the year before attending private school.     Scholarship awards can be held for use in future years.

We support every private school in the state.

There are 4 scholarships available through this tax credit program.  Although many students are not eligible to receive every scholarship, any student enrolled in private school in Arizona can receive at least one of the scholarships.

The one exception is if you are taking Empowerment scholarships.  By law no student can accept both ESA and tax credit scholarship awards at the same time.

We don’t have any application deadlines.  State law requires a new scholarship application for each school year for each student.

Bottom line –  it is never too late to apply.  We cannot award or hold scholarships without a complete application.

There are currently four types of scholarships that Arizona Tuition Connection provides.  (At this time we do not have the 4th scholarship, called disabled / displace, available)

1) The Original tax credit Scholarship. –  There are some general guidelines by the state for these scholarships, but essentially all K-12 children attending a qualified private school can receive Original Scholarships.

2) The Switcher (Overflow/PLUS) tax credit scholarship. –  The state has set some very specific award guidelines to receive this type of scholarship.

– Enrolling in or currently enrolled in a private school kindergarten, OR

– Attended an Arizona public school, full time, for at least 90 days of the prior fiscal year and then transferred to a private school, OR

          – Are transferring from an out-of-state school, OR

– Attended a homeschool program in the previous year, OR

– Were previously receiving ESA funds, and have discontinued the ESA program, OR

– Received a switcher scholarship in a prior school year and remained in private school in subsequent years, OR

– Received a low-income corporate scholarship or disabled/displaced scholarship in a prior year and continued to attend private school in subsequent years, OR

– Moved to Arizona from out of state before enrolling in a private school.

3) The Corporate Low-Income tax credit scholarship. – There is an income cap, plus other requirements to receive low-income corporate scholarships.

– Family income must be below the numbers indicated in the chart below AND meet one of the following:

– Enrolling in or currently enrolled in a private school kindergarten, OR

– Attended a Arizona public school, full time, for at least 90 days of the prior fiscal year and then transferred to a private school, OR

– Received a switcher scholarship in a prior school year and remained in private school in subsequent years, OR

– Received a low-income corporate, switcher or original scholarship in a prior year and continued to attend private school in subsequent years, OR

– Were previously receiving ESA funds, and have discontinued the ESA program,

Academic Year 2024/25

Once you apply you will receive an email confirmation of which type of scholarships your child is eligible to receive.  It is important for you to understand what type of scholarships your child is eligible for, to make certain you receive all possible awards.

There is only one application.   Simply complete that application and our team will determine which scholarships your child is eligible to receive.

Our goal is to award scholarships out monthly.

About a week after we award scholarships to the school, we send the parents an email with the details of the scholarship award.

We encourage all families to educate themselves, use the tools we offer, and ask their social contacts to donate and recommend those funds to their family.    It is not a good strategy for parents to expect scholarships other than from those that have been recommended to their family.

Arizona Tuition Connection uses the recommendation of the donor as the primary criteria for awarding scholarships.    It is important for parents to understand not every child is eligible for every type of scholarship.

The first thing parents must understand is how donations are categorized.

When donations are received from individuals, Arizona Tuition Connection must categorize those donations as available to be used for two different types of scholarships.  For donations coming in from married couples for the 2024 tax year, the first $1,459 of each donation must be used for Original Scholarship Awards.  Any amount over $1,459 (up to an additional $1,451) must be used for Switcher Scholarships.  For singles who donate, the first $731 must be used for Original Scholarship awards, with any amount over (up to an additional $728) going towards Switcher scholarships.

For example:  If we receive a donation for $2,000 in the 2024 tax year from a married couple, $1,459 will be available for Original scholarships and $541 will be available for Switcher scholarships.

The next thing for parents to understand is what type of scholarship awards their child is eligible for – Original, or both Original and Switcher.  This information is part of a previous FAQ question in this section.

If your child is not switcher eligible, we cannot award your child a switcher scholarship even if your child has been recommended to receive those funds.  If your child is switcher eligible, then they would be eligible for scholarships from both original and switcher parts of the donation.

It sounds like a basic thing, but filling out the application completely is the first step in maximizing your child’s opportunity to receive a scholarship.  If the application is not filled out completely you may not receive any funding, or you may receive less funding that you otherwise could.

The best way you can maximize the scholarship donations for your child is to ask your friends and acquaintances to donate their tax dollars and recommend your child receive those funds.  The more money we receive in donations, the more money we have to award in scholarships.

Additionally, many employers offer donation matching to nonprofit organizations.  Once a friend or acquaintance donates, ask them to inquire to their HR department about matching gift opportunities.

For the 2024 tax year, the maximums are $2,910 (married) and $1,459 (single).  With these high donation amounts, it does not take long to make a significant impact in your tuition expenditures.

Finally, participate in the programs we offer.  You will start receiving a series of emails from us, with ideas and suggestions.  We have seen that the families who try these ideas have significantly more money donated in their children’s names.

• Do you have brochures ready to hand out?
• Do you have your donation page ready?
• Is your donation page shared on Facebook?
• Have you made a list of people you will specifically ask to donate?

State law does not allow us to share the names of any of the donors.  We must abide by that law.

We are allowed to share the total dollars that have been donated and recommended to your family.  The easiest way to do this is to send us an email at info@arizonatuitionconnection.com and ask us to provide you that information.  Please be certain to provide us the name of your child in your email.

What are the most common questions I will be asked?

1. How much can an individual donate?  For the tax year 2024, the maximum a married couple filing jointly can donate is $2,910, and $1,459 for a single person.

2. What are the donation deadlines?  –  Your donors have until April 15th, 2025 to donate and take it off 2024 taxes.

3. I don’t pay taxes, do I get a refund? – Participating in this program has nothing to do with if they are getting a refund or if they owe taxes when they file their return.  It has to do with if they have a tax liability.   Their tax liability is their total state tax bill for the year.    This program lowers your tax liability.

4. Is this the same as the Public School Tax Credit of $400.00? No, they are totally separate programs.  Actually, the state offers many different tax credits.  Residents can participate in them all.

Don’t give up.  You may have to ask 20 different people to donate, before one says yes.  But it is worth it.  Donors tend to donate to the same family every year.  So each new donor added can mean multiple years of scholarship awards.

Here are some more things to consider:

1.  Educate yourself and develop talking points you are comfortable with.

Attend one of our coaching sessions.  A list of sessions can be found on the home page of our website.  We can’t stress enough how important being educated on this program is.

Common talking points often center around:

• It costs you nothing to donate because it is a tax credit donation.
• You are going to be paying the money to someone, either the state of Arizona or our family – This helps our family.

2.  Be intentional.

• • Make a list of people you know who are employed in Arizona, and establish a plan to contact them.

3.  Use our free tools.

Create donation pages and personalized brochures to help get donations.  These tools are an excellent way to start a conversation with potential donors.  To get started send a picture of your child to marketing@arizonatuitionconnection.com.  For more information, visit our personalized tools page.

4.  Carry donation forms with you.

• • You never know when you will meet someone who can donate.  Pre-fill them out as much as you can to make them easy for your donors.

5.  Participate in the other programs we offer.

• • You will start to receive regular email communications of “tips and tricks” and programs  that have been successful.  The more you can participate in these programs, the more funds will be available for scholarships.

6.  We are here to help.

Much of our staff are parents with kids in private schools who are now experiencing success in receiving donations.  We have been in your shoes and we are here to help.  Call us before you get frustrated, and let’s talk things through.