In order for us to allocate funds to 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.

As of the 23/24 school year, the ESA program no longer lets you switch back and for the between these two programs quarterly.    If you choose ESA at any time during the school year, you can use tax credits at all during that school year.

For students that have previously applied to Arizona Tuition Connection, we will be contacting you when we are ready for you to renew for the 23/24 school year.

For students that are new to Arizona Tuition Connection,  our application is now available online, click over to the parent portal to sign in or register.

If your child is starting private school in the 24/25 school year, we would ask that you fill out a registration form for now.  This registration form lets us know who you are, so you can get donations this tax season which will be applied to your tuition in 24/25.
STUDENT-REGISTRATION

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 member assist you this process, you can 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

Absolutely not.

No matter a family’s income, anyone who has a child attending K-12 private school in Arizona should take advantage of this tax scholarship program.

Arizona Tuition Connection does not have some of the income caps other School Tuition Organizations operate under, so even if your family is blessed with a higher income there are scholarship funds available.

You should especially apply if your child is in kindergarten or transferring from a public school, homeschool program, or out-of-state school to an Arizona private school.  There are “Switcher” scholarships available if you apply your first year in private school.  A student must receive a Switcher scholarship their first year in private school to continue to receive them in future years.  It is so important you don’t miss this opportunity.  If your child does not receive a switcher scholarship their first year, your child might not ever be eligible to receive them again.

This is the perfect time to plan ahead!  If you have a child that will start attending private school for the first time in an upcoming school year (typically either kindergarten or 9th grade).  Individuals can donate and recommend your student to receive those funds the year before attending private school.     Scholarship awards will be held until your child is enrolled and we have received a completed application for that school year.

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.  So, any student can get a significant portion or even all of their tuition covered.

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.  More information about empowerment scholarships can be found at www.azed.gov/esa.

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.

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,

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.

We will do that for you.  Simply fill out our application completely.

Once we receive your application our customer service team will determine which scholarships state laws will allow your child to receive.  There may be some additional information we request from you, so please read our follow up email communications carefully.

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 2023 tax year, the first $1,308 of each donation must be used for Original Scholarship Awards.  Any amount over $1,308 (up to an additional $1,301) must be used for Switcher Scholarships.  For singles who donate, the first $655 must be used for Original Scholarship awards, with any amount over (up to an additional $652) going towards Switcher scholarships.

For example:  If we receive a donation for $2,000 in the 2023 tax year from a married couple, $1,308 will be available for Original scholarships and $692 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 2023 tax year, the maximums are $2,609 (married) and $1,307 (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 2023, the maximum a married couple filing jointly can donate is $2,609, and $1,307 for a single person.

2. What are the donation deadlines?  –  Your donors have until April 15th, 2024 to donate and take it off 2023 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.