Illinois Tax Credit Scholarship Program

In August 2017, with bipartisan support, the Illinois House and Senate passed a comprehensive education funding bill which was signed into law by the Governor. The bill included a five-year program for Tax Credit Scholarships (TCS) for students in private schools that will create more equity in school funding throughout Illinois.

This “Invest in Kids Act” is a new way to fund scholarships for children who choose to attend Illinois Catholic schools. Scholarships offered through this program have the potential to cover up to 100 percent of tuition for a year at Diocese of Joliet Catholic Schools.

In 2018, more than 2,800 students applied for a scholarship to attend a Diocese of Joliet Catholic School. Thanks to our donors, we were able to award scholarships to more than 340 students for 2018-19.

Watch this video highlighting the impact we have made for our students, families and schools. 

More than 2,500 students have applied for a 2019-20 scholarship to attend a Diocese of Joliet Catholic School so far this year. The need is great -- raising more than $10 million will fund scholarships for these applicants. 

Donors are able to claim a tax credit now to fund scholarships for the 2019-20 school year. 

Claim a 2019 tax credit today.

Donor Information

2019-20 Scholarship Application

Empower Illinois, the SGO with whom we partner, has announced Tuesday, January 15, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. as the official date for the two-step 2019-20 Tax Credit Scholarship process to begin at https://empowerillinois.org/.

Current scholarship recipients and students who applied in 2018-19 and are currently on the waitlist must reapply.

Step 1. Reserve: On January 15 at 7:00 p.m. families will complete a brief one page online reservation form with the following information:

• Parent/Guardian's first and last name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Household Address (street, city, state & zip)
• Student's first and last name (families can add additional boxes for as many children for whom the family is applying)

Additionally, there will be three legal disclaimer checkboxes at the bottom of the page. Once the page is submitted, the family will receive a timestamp for the first-come, first-served scholarships. The reservation system will be accessible from mobile devices.

Step 2. Apply: After reserving a place in line, families will be emailed a link to login to a parent portal to complete the application.

Student Application Information

The link below contains details for Tax Credit Scholarship applicants and donors. 

Tax Credit Scholarship Questions