Catholic school students receive financial awards through Msgr. Lafferty, Birzle and local programs

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
June 14, 2004

Families who have students attending Catholic schools in the Diocese of Sioux City have recently been notified as to the awards that were made for tuition assistance through the Msgr. Lafferty Foundation, the Catherine Birzle Educational Trust and local school tuition assistance programs.

According to Kevin Vickery, superintendent of Catholic Schools for the diocese, about half of all students applied for financial assistance. Almost 3,000 students of the near 6,000 students attending Catholic schools in the diocese applied for assistance.

"If we were able to fund every need of those who applied, we would have needed $4.8 million," he noted.

More than $1.51 million was awarded to students throughout the diocesan system. The Msgr. Lafferty Fund distributed $590,915, benefiting 1,495 students from every Catholic school in the diocese. The Catherine Birzle Educational Trust, which goes to high school students with the greatest financial need, gave out about $52,815 among 160 recipients. Local tuition assistance programs distributed about another $507,875.

Vickery pointed out that the students who demonstrated the greatest financial need in most cases received both Msgr. Lafferty and Birzle money. In some cases, that combination equaled up to 75 percent of their total tuition.

The amount of the award, he noted, was determined by FAIR based on the "relationship between the family's income, the family size, the number of students in Catholic schools and tuition. That's the beauty of using a third party provider of FAIR. Those calculations were done based on income tax returns that families provided to FAIR."

FAIR calculated the awards based on criteria established by the Msgr. Lafferty Foundation Board.

"All schools realized the full benefit of the monies they had raised for their local designations," said Vickery. "The undesignated amounts were then allocated based on where the greatest needs throughout the diocese were."

Lisa Niebuhr, development director at Gehlen Catholic Schools in Le Mars, said, "For Gehlen, the impact of Msgr. Lafferty is allowing families who previously had chosen not to attend Gehlen the opportunity to do so because they see Msgr. Lafferty as a grant. It's a way in which they can protect their dignity by accepting a grant to help offset the cost of their tuition, allowing their children to be able to benefit from a Catholic education."

For the many new students and families who have been calling Gehlen Catholic Schools because of the Msgr. Lafferty Foundation, she expressed gratitude to the legislators, the diocese, the Msgr. Lafferty Board and the volunteers who have made this happen.

In addition to seeing a boost in enrollment due to new families entering the system, she pointed out that many present families who have been making difficult sacrifices would benefit from the Msgr. Lafferty dollars.

Tom Betz, director of admissions and alumni relations at Bishop Heelan Catholic Schools in Sioux City, he pointed out that with such a larger pool of money for assistance there is greater ability to help more families and they are able to give larger awards.

"The pool of money next year will get even bigger," he noted. "There are no negatives to this."

Betz acknowledged that while the deadline to apply for assistance for current families was in April, new families still have time to do so.

"We have set aside a certain amount of money for new families who move to town or for families that may inquire about Catholic schools in the middle of the summer," he said. "We don't want to leave those families out."

Vickery pointed out that about $35,000 has been set aside for distribution later this summer that are new to the Catholic schools or new to the area. They also wanted to have money available for students in families whose financial status changes due to such things as job loss or death.

Betz noted that thus far about 20 more students are registered for school next year compared to this year.

Sister Mary Louise Scieszinski, principal at St. Mary School in Humboldt, said funds from the Msgr. Lafferty Foundation would ease the financial demands of tuition costs for parents.

While it is too soon for the principal to determine if it will make an impact on her school's enrollment, she noted, that she hopes it will allow "greater freedom of parental choice in selecting their child's education." With that in mind, she is hopeful for an increase in enrollment.

Vickery pointed out that next year the Msgr. Lafferty Foundation will be able to distribute $1.3 million so even more students should be able to receive assistance.

"Our goal is that Msgr. Lafferty would hopefully some day be able to fund 75 percent of tuition for those families that have the absolute greatest need so that the local dollars would be used for the middle class families. They may not need a huge gift but they certainly need enough so that perhaps we can prevent parents from having to get second jobs so that they can choose Catholic education," he said. "That's where we would like to be - so that we can take the pressure off the middle income family so they see Catholic schools are in their range."

Vickery said the Msgr. Lafferty Foundation Board wished to express extreme gratitude to the many benefactors - almost 700 donors - who made the Msgr. Lafferty Tuition Foundation a reality.

"They really answered a call to get our tuition assistance program off the ground," he said. "We are grateful that people choose Catholic education first and foremost. We are grateful to the benefactors who made their gifts available to us to make that happen and we are grateful to the legislators who see that by doing this it provides Iowans the opportunity to be altruistic in their giving through their tax credits."