Students

Students (K-12) from families with limited financial resources, up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, are eligible to receive a tax credit scholarship. Before April 1, priority will be given to students from each of the following categories:

• Students who are members of a household whose previous year’s total annual income does not exceed 185% of the federal poverty level ($45,510 for a family of 4); and
• Students who reside within a focus district.

After April 1, all other qualifying students will be considered for scholarships, subject to availability of funding.

Focus districts are public school districts which have a school where at least one subgroup of students performs in the bottom 10% statewide or a graduation rate of less than 60%.  A list of focus districts can be found here.

It is a two-step process. First, visit the Empower Illinois Website beginning Tuesday February 27, at 7:00 p.m. to reserve your place in line.  You will complete a brief online form containing name, contact information, child name and preferred school.  This will time stamp your application for the first-come, first-served scholarships.

After reserving your place in line, you will be emailed a unique link inviting you to complete the full application. Application invitation emails will be sent on a rolling basis, over the course of a few weeks after reservations are made. After your unique application link has been sent to you via email, you will have 7 days (168 hours in total) to submit your completed application and all required documents.

No, applications will be reviewed based on the reservation date-and-time stamp and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to the availability of funds.

No, only one reservation and application will be accepted for each household.  A household is defined as all family members living together at the address of the residential custodian. Duplicate reservations will be deleted. The application can account for up to 15 children per family.

Please list a preferred school to increase the likelihood of matching to available funds. No awards will be processed until enrollment has been confirmed by your school of choice.

No. The application is a two-step process: reserve and apply. You will not submit any documents to reserve.  It is not until you are completing the application itself that eligibility documents are required.

After your unique application link has been sent to you via email, you will have 7 days (168 hours in total) to submit your completed application and all required documents. It is important to take your time and make sure your application is complete and all required documents have been submitted on a timely basis.

Empower Illinois will not be able to award any scholarships to students whose applications are incomplete, lacking required documents or submitted after 7 days (168 hours in total) of the application link having been sent.

Applications will be reviewed based on the reservation date-and-time stamp and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to the availability of funds.

If after April 1 there are existing ‘priority group’ students/applications who applied before April 1 and have not yet received scholarships, state regulations require that these students be served (subject to availability of funds) before non-priority group students and/or priority group students who applied after April 1.

If funding runs out when a family with multiple children applies and is next in line, Empower Illinois will contact the family to decide how to proceed.

In order to qualify for a scholarship, a student’s family will have to give official documentation of their household income.

• For students whose household income is less than 185% of the Federal Poverty Level, the scholarship will be 100% of tuition and necessary fees;
• For students whose household income is between 185% and 250%, scholarships will be 75% of tuition and necessary fees; and
• For students whose household income is between 250% and 300%, scholarships will be 50% of tuition and necessary fees.

The maximum scholarship equals tuition and necessary fees or the statewide average operating expense per student, whichever is lower.

• For the 2018-2019 school year, the statewide average operating expense per student is $12,973.
• Students identified as gifted and talented can receive up to $14,270 annually.
• Students identified as English Language Learners can receive up to $15,567 annually.
• Students identified as eligible to receive services under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act can receive up to $25,946 annually.
• The scholarships are commitments for 1 year and will follow the student to a new school, subject to the availability of funds.

Students eligible for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) will need to provide a copy of either their Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Individualized Service Plan (ISP) from their public school district.

Your local district is still responsible for offering services but the individual right to services (from the district) is not as strong as it would be if a child remained in public school. We recommend you talk with the private school you are interested in having your child attend in order to get a better sense of what services might be available to your child before making any decision.

For 2018-2019 scholarships, 2016 or 2017 federal adjusted gross income is the basis. This amount does not include the income of children under 18 attending elementary or secondary school on a full-time basis.  Foster children are deemed to have a household income that does not exceed 185% of the federal poverty level.  We will provide additional information regarding situations where the 1040 is unavailable.

Note: If more than eight people in your household, for each additional person, add $4,180 to the baseline FPL number for a family of 8 ($41,320) and then multiply by 1.85, 2.5 and 3 to arrive at the corresponding income limits.

All students who receive scholarships will be required to take the state assessment. ISBE will select an independent research organization to conduct an annual study examining the year-to-year learning gains of students receiving scholarships and a comparison of these learning gains to public school students with similar demographic backgrounds.

Scholarships are for the 2018-2019 academic year and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Scholarship applications will be accepted by Empower Illinois beginning February 27, 2018. Scholarships will be awarded beginning in March.

Yes, applications will be available in Spanish.

The application process will be conducted online only.  Our contact center will be available to assist parents with navigating the online application.  Support will likely also be provided through local schools.

Tuition and necessary fees for any non-public school in Illinois are covered through tax credit scholarships.

No.

Scholarship applications will be accepted by Empower Illinois beginning February 27, 2018. Scholarships will be awarded beginning in March. Empower Illinois will notify families of application status within 10 business days of reviewing and determining eligibility.

Scholarship payments will be made directly to the qualified school where the student is enrolled, on a quarterly basis based on a 200-day school year calendar.

The scholarships will follow the student to a new school, subject to the availability of funds.

Scholarships are awarded for 1 school year and students will have to reapply annually. Renewing scholarship recipients will be priorities for additional school years.

Students may begin the scholarship application process prior to gaining acceptance to the school of their choice. Students however will be required to confirm enrollment at a participating school within 30 days of receiving an award commitment.

Students can apply to multiple SGOs but are not allowed to be granted more than 1 scholarship per year through this program. Students are encouraged to learn which SGO their target schools are working with and apply directly to that SGO. If a student accepts a scholarship from another SGO after applying to Empower Illinois, the family must notify Empower Illinois within three (3) business days. Failure to do so may affect the student’s future eligibility for Empower Illinois awards.

No, the scholarship money can only be used to attend non-public schools that are “recognized” by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). A list of those schools that are currently recognized by ISBE can be found here.

Some schools are in the process of being recognized by ISBE but are not yet recognized. If a student selects one of these schools (marked as “PENDING RECOGNITION” on Empower Illinois’ student application and website) while applying for a scholarship and the school has not gained recognition from ISBE by the earlier of (1) the time the student must submit to Empower Illinois a school enrollment letter or (2) a date specified by the state of Illinois, then a student awarded a scholarship will not be permitted to use the scholarship to attend the school. A student who selects a school that is marked as PENDING RECOGNITION may not be able to use scholarship money to attend that school. Empower Illinois will not provide scholarship funds for a student to attend a school that is not recognized by ISBE, even if the school is in the process of gaining recognition by ISBE.   

The Empower Illinois service center hours are 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Central Time), Monday – Friday.  The phone number for the service center is 1-855-318-1222.  Limited additional phone support may be available until 9:00 p.m. (Central Time) on the day of the reservation process, February 27.

Empower Illinois has an appeal policy to address this. Appeals may be requested if:

• The applicant believes an error was made by Empower Illinois in determining eligibility based on accurate information submitted and certified in the scholarship application; or
• The applicant has a change in residence that affects their priority status; or
• The applicant has had a change in Adjusted Gross Income from 2016 to 2017 that affects their priority status.

Appeal requests to fix incorrect information submitted and certified in the application will NOT be accepted.

1. All appeal requests must be submitted by an applicant to [email protected] no later than 7 calendar days after the eligibility notification email was sent.
2. Empower Illinois provides Appeal Form to the applicant;
3. Applicant submits their completed Empower Illinois Appeal Form, and any supporting materials, by email to [email protected] with the word “Appeal” in the subject line.
4. Empower Illinois will respond by email with the appeal decision and additional instructions no later than 5 business days or 7 calendar days, whichever is longer. All appeal decisions are final. Even if an appeal is successful, the student will only receive a scholarship if funds are available.