FINANCIAL AID POLICY
GOAL
Financial aid at the French American International School is intended to enhance diversity in the student body. All financial aid is based on economic need. Allocation of available funds is made to the greatest number of families possible.
DETERMINATION OF NEED
Families requesting assistance must provide all of the following:
- Completed Parent’s Financial Statement (PFS). PFS forms are available from the school.
- Copy of the previous year’s Federal Income Tax Return with all schedules.
- Completed IRS Form 8821
- A check for $20 made payable to School and Student Service for Financial Aid.
Families must return the complete package to the FAIS business office by March 3. Financial aid requests will not be considered unless the school has received all of the supporting documents listed above. The Business Office will submit all forms for financial analysis.
Only families of enrolled students are eligible for financial aid award consideration. To be eligible for financial aid award consideration, families must be current on all financial obligations to the school.
Notification of financial aid awards will be sent by the end of the first week in May.
All applications are considered in strict confidence. Although the school is never able to meet all financial aid requests to the full extent requested, all efforts are made to help as many families as possible.
AWARD CONSIDERATION GUIDELINES
In allocating financial aid resources the following criteria are considered:
- Family financial resources and circumstances
- Independent financial analysis of family’s ability to pay tuition and fees
- Family commitment to independent, immersion education
- Preference is given to families when all adults in the household are fully employed
- Consideration is not given for private school tuition other than FAIS
- Cultural diversity
- Full student enrollment
- Returning FAIS families
- Adherence to deadlines
THE FRENCH BOURSE
The French Bourse is a need-based financial aid program provided by the French government to assist French citizens living abroad with educational expenses at accredited French schools around the world. French families with children who are French citizens may not apply for the bourse until their first child is four years of age. Once there is a child in the family already receiving a bourse, a family may apply for additional siblings aged two and half years and older. If a French family has a child under the age of four, the family should apply directly to FAIS for financial aid. However, once a French family is receiving the bourse from the French government, the family is not eligible for additional financial aid from the French American International School.
Families apply for the bourse from the French government, which establishes its own guidelines for the awarding of the bourse. Please call the French Consulate in San Francisco for more details at (415) 616-4913 or visit their website at http://www.consulfrance-sanfrancisco.org.
The French American International School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, disability, sex, religion, marital status, or sexual orientation in administration of its financial aid policy, or on the basis of any other characteristic protected by state or federal law.
