Tuition Assistance Procedure and Important Deadlines

We use School and Student Services (SSS) to process tuition assistance applications. SSS is a service of the National Association of Independent Schools. Based on the financial information you provide, SSS gives us an estimated amount your family can contribute to educational expenses. This helps us make fair and objective tuition assistance decisions. To begin your tuition assistance application for the 2011-12 school year, follow these steps below. 

ONLINE 

1.    Starting on November 1, 2010, go to sss.nais.org.

2.    Click on the prompt to begin your Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS). You only have to complete one PFS even if you have several children applying to our school. Our school code is 3061.

3.    You will be given a password that will allow you to return to your PFS at a later date before submitting it.

Note: If you apply for financial aid online, your information will be delivered more quickly to our school, allowing us to make a faster decision about your eligibility for financial aid.

BY MAIL 

1.    If you don’t already have a printed Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS), call Yvette Bonaparte, Director of Admissions, at 415.565.0400 x136.

2.    Complete the PFS and return it to: SSS by NAIS, Application Processing Center, P.O. Box 449, Randolph, MA 02368-0449 USA. (For overnight mail, use this address: SSS by NAIS, Application Processing Center, 437 Turnpike Street, Canton, MA 02021.)

Call SSS at (800) 344-8328 with any questions about the PFS (Mon - Fri: 9am - 8pm EST. Sat: 9am - 4pm EST)

The Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS) must be submitted to SSS by January 31, 2011.

For divorced, separated, or never married parents: Each parent, stepparent, or partner (regardless of legal settlements) is required to complete the process described, including the mailing of a separate Parent Financial Statement to SSS. In the unusual circumstance that a parent is unable or unwilling to provide this information, please send a written statement to San Francisco Friends School explaining the situation. Lack of information from either parent may prevent determination of eligibility.

1) New applicants to SFFS, send the following to San Francisco Friends School by March 1, 2011:

Current families already receiving tuition assistance need to submit the following by February 11, 2011.

  • copy(ies) of the Parent Financial Statement(s)
  • copies of both 2009 and 2010 1040 tax return forms with any schedules (current families already receiving tuition assistance need only submit 2010 1040 tax return with schedules)
  • copy(ies) of 2010 W-2 form(s)
  • if a majority owner of a corporation or LLC, copies of most recently filed corporate tax returns
  • completed copy of "Estimate of Household Expenditures"
  • if self-employed, complete the online form of the Business/Farm statement which can be found at sss.nais.org/parents. Under the "Apply for Financial Aid" tab, click on "Download Forms."
  • any supplemental information you wish to provide us, in writing, which will help us best understand your individual circumstances. We encourage you to send us more information rather than less.


2) SSS will process your financial information and will provide our Tuition Assistance Committee with an estimate of your family’s ability to contribute to tuition for the 2011-2012 school year.

3) San Francisco Friends School will make any adjustments to the estimate based on the information you provide. It is the school’s objective to provide tuition assistance to all families demonstrating need. However, since the total of our grant dollars are limited to the Tuition Assistance budget, not every family that applies for assistance will necessarily receive an award from San Francisco Friends School.

4) San Francisco Friends School will send notice of tuition assistance awards to returning families who have met the deadlines on February 28, 2011. Families of new applicants will receive notice of awards with our admissions decisions mailing on March 17, 2011.