FA Procedures & Timelines

Procedures and Timelines for Families Seeking Financial Aid

We utilize the online service of Financial Aid for School Tuition (FAST) to process financial aid applications. FAST will be the standard submission format for all applications.

FAST does not decide whether financial assistance will be given or how much to give; rather FAST provides a need-based financial aid analysis service which includes a recommendation of what a family should reasonably contribute toward tuition. All information from FAST is kept confidential. The FAST recommendations are reviewed by the Financial Aid Committee and financial aid award decisions are based on all information submitted.

To start the process, please do the following:

* Go to the main Financial Aid page. At the bottom of that page you will find the "FAST" button. Click on it to begin. For help with the process there is a .pdf of the Parent User Guide, both in English and in Spanish, next to the FAST button.

* The application process is self-guided. You may navigate in and out of the program allowing you to partially complete an application and go back to it at another time. Online e-mail and a 24/7 helpline are provided.

* The charge for the application is to be paid by credit card at the end of the online session. If you do not have a credit card, or cannot budget the fee, please call Verena Denove at 818-508-4717 for assistance.

* After completing the online application you will be required to mail or upload your entire 2021 AND 2022 tax returns for both state and federal taxes with all schedules and W-2's to FAST Processing. Current families already receiving assistance, only need to submit 2022 information. FAST will post all the documents and provide the Director of Financial Aid online access to them. (Please do not mail or upload partial returns – we need every last page sent or the processing will be delayed and negatively impact your application.)

* The submission deadline for the FAST online application is January 17, 2023 for current families and January 27, 2023 for new applicant families.

* The deadline for tax returns for all is that they must be uploaded by Monday, February 20, 2023.

* This will require that you schedule your tax appointment for early February so that you don’t jeopardize your application by missing this deadline. Pre-planning is critical.

Our goal is to have an award determination for our applicant families by the time we mail enrollment decisions on March 10, 2023.

It is not necessary to have your income tax forms completed in order to submit the FAST online application. However, you will need to upload your entire (all pages) tax returns to FAST by February 20, 2023. You do NOT need to file your tax return with the government until the April 15, 2023 due date. We simply need you to get it completed early for our process.