With an 8th to 9th grade matriculation rate of 100% and a high school graduation rate and college acceptance rate of 98%, access to our Catholic schools is crucial and life-changing for both the families and communities we serve through the Catholic Education Foundation. These results are remarkable when considering the average income of a family of four receiving a CEF tuition award is $36,500 and these families live in the most economically underserved areas of our Archdiocese.
This school year alone, CEF has provided tuition awards for over 14,000 students and funded approximately $21 million. Thanks to the New Enrollment Initiative (NEI) program, there are over 4,000 new students in our Catholic school system year-to-date.
Over the past two years, CEF has been working directly with school principals and administrative staff on grassroots marketing and communications. We provide resources, training, Zoom workshops and marketing collateral to schools participating in the NEI program to market their schools and inform their communities of the availability of tuition awards – all in order to boost enrollment. Every unfilled seat is a missed opportunity for a child to learn and succeed.
CCF-LA’s Catholic school awareness campaign will build another level of momentum to compliment CEF’s grassroots efforts. Our Catholic schools are excited and prepared for the campaign’s message that their schools are available, affordable, and ready to teach their children in a faith-filled environment.
In 35 years, CEF funded 215,000 tuition awards and disbursed over $242 million to students across the three counties of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Now is a moment in time to get the word out and ensure that our Catholic schools will always be there to provide an exceptional, well-rounded education in a safe and nurturing environment guided by the values of our faith.
It has been my privilege and honor to administer the CEF programs for over 25 years. It’s a good investment and I know it works. Every tuition award application I read reminded me of my family. My grandparents could not read nor write, my father had a third-grade education, and my mother was nearly ten years old when she began school because my grandfather didn’t believe a woman needed an education. The greatest gift my parents bestowed upon me was a Catholic school education in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and for this I am forever grateful.
|