The Hillside School has scholarships and funds for families who, through a confidential and independent review process, demonstrate financial need. In our financial aid process, The Hillside School and families work with Simple Tuition Solutions (STS). Through the STS website, parents/guardians provide information and documents that are used to calculate an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and determine state grant eligibility. Once STS provides Hillside with an EFC and state program eligibility, Hillside determines a financial aid award. The award determination process could take up to 30 days from receipt of all required documentation.
- Families wishing to apply for financial aid are encouraged to begin the process as soon as they submit an admission application.
- Financial aid decisions are only awarded after an offer of admission is extended to a prospective student.
- Demonstrated need, Expected Family Contribution (EFC), and financial awards do not consider information used to determine admission.
Scholarships exist thanks to the generosity of donors, foundations, and fundraising. As a result, they are awarded to those who qualify as long as funds are still available. Further assistance is available through Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (OSTC) programs, in which Hillside is an Educational Improvement Organization and Opportunity Scholarship Organization, respectively.
Applying for Financial Aid
Families use the STS site to apply for financial aid from The Hillside School and to pay tuition. While there are several pages of information required, you can save your work and return to your account at a later time to complete the financial aid application.
- If you have children at different private schools, and any of these schools use the STS system, you can put all of your students into one application.
- If asked, Hillside’s “school or scholarship organization code” is 24511.
Follow these steps to apply for financial aid:
- Go to Simple Tuition Solutions (STS) and create an account or log into a previously created account.
- If you do not already have an account with STS, you want to click on the Orange Button “Create my account”.
- If you already have an account with STS, click “Log in here” under “SIGN UP” and enter your previously created login and password.
- Start a new application by selecting “Start a new STS application.”
- Be sure to select the school year for which you are seeking financial assistance.
- Provide the information required in each of the 8 steps of the application.
- Save and return to continue the application as you need.
- Each step will save as you advance to the next step.
- Use the toolbar across the top of the page to toggle back to a previous step and make any necessary edits.
- The application will be locked preventing editing once you complete the process of uploading your required financial documents (step 5). If you need to make changes to the application at this point, simply email STS at support@simpletuitionsolutions.org or call at 717.599.7611 option 1.
- Complete the payment to STS, which charges each family based upon their selected intended payment plan.
| $0/family for the annual payment plan | $25/family for the quarterly payment plan |
| $10/family for the semi-annual payment plan | $40/family for the monthly payment plan |
- Provide documentation to STS.
The quickest way to provide STS with the required information is by scanning or taking a photo of the financial documents and uploading the STS system. Signed copies can also be mailed to STS. Most likely the documents will include the following:
- Parents’ W-2 forms (from custodial and non-custodial parents)
- Parents’ most recent Federal Income Tax Return (1040) and any related schedules
- Self-employed Schedule C and related attachments (business profit & loss), if applicable
- Schedule K1 (form 1065 or 1120S), if you are a partnership or S Corporation
STS may request additional documents based on the information you provide. Please respond promptly to keep the process moving forward.
The application will be locked, preventing editing, once you complete the process of uploading your required financial documents. If you need to make changes to the application at this point, simply email STS at support@simpletuitionsolutions.org or call at 717.599.7611 option 1.
Once STS Has the Required Financial Documentation
STS’s application processors will verify the data and review your entire application per Pennsylvania State Law to determine your eligibility for any state programs. You will be notified directly via email upon the completion of this verification/review process. In addition, the results will also be available to your School or any Scholarship Organization associated with the scholarship. It is important to note that STS is only contracted to handle the verification and eligibility determination, therefore, does NOT have any input, control, or insight into scholarship amounts or when they may be awarded.
Contact Information
| From financial aid application through the review process, contact: |
Once the application review is complete through enrollment, contact: |
|---|---|
| Simple Tuition Solutions (STS) support@simpletuitionsolutions.org (717) 599-7611, option 1 |
Don Kuntzman, Hillside’s Director of Finance dkuntzman@hillsideschool.org (610) 967-3701 |
