Iowa Lutheran

School Tuition Organization (STO)
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Eligibility Criteria and Application

 

 

Application for Assistance (click)

** This application is in a .pdf format.  To obtain a .pdf reader, click here. **

 

These criteria must be met in order to be eligible for assistance from the Iowa Lutheran STO:

  1. The child(ren) must be in grades K-8 as of the 2008-09 school year. At this time, preschool is not supported by the law, and neither of the two Lutheran high schools in the state are eligible to participate at this time.

  2. Family income (defined as the amount shown on Line 22 of the Federal Tax Form 1040 - Click to access this form online) can be no more than 300% of the poverty level. Click Here to view the poverty level thresholds to see if you qualify.

  3. The goal of the STO is to help as many families as possible, so feel free to email questions to the STO at iowalutheransto@mchsi.com or ask for help from your school--DO NOT LET ANY PART OF THE PROCESS OVERWHELM YOU!

  4. The deadline for applying for assistance is April 1st, 2008. It is the goal of the STO to advise people of the status of their applications by June 1st, 2008

Poverty Thresholds

 

Below are the "Poverty Thresholds by Size of Family and Number of Children" for 2006 as published by the U.S. Census Bureau (Click for other years). Refer to these when determining income guidelines for families requesting tuition grants:

 

  Number of Children
Family Size One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight+
Two Persons                
   Under 65 13,896              
   65 and over 13,843              
Three Persons 16,227 16,242            
Four Persons 21,134 20,444 20,516          
Five Persons 25,441 24,662 24,059 23,691        
Six Persons 28,957 28,360 27,788 26,938 26,434      
Seven Persons 33,394 32,680 32,182 31,254 30,172 28,985    
Eight Persons 37,444 36,770 36,180 35,342 34,278 33,171 32,890  
Nine Persons or more 44,865 44,269 43,768 42,945 41,813 40,790 40,536 38,975

 

To correctly determine the income guidelines, follow these steps:

  1. Determine family size

  2. Determine number of children (not just school-age children)

  3. Find the correct number in the table above and multiply by 3 (remember, the threshold is 300% of poverty level)

 

Examples:

 

Example 1—one-parent household, two children (relevant numbers highlighted RED)

  1. Family size=3

  2. Number of children=2

  3. Number=16,242. Multiply by 3=48,726

This means that line 22 of the Federal income tax return needs to be less than $48,726

 

Example 2—two-parents, four children (relevant numbers highlighted YELLOW)

  1. Family size=6

  2. Number of children=4

  3. Number=26,938. Multiply by 3=80,814

This means that line 22 of the Federal income tax return needs to be less than $80,814

 

The poverty thresholds change yearly, but never by great amounts. In general, the thresholds will rise every year. As such, these guidelines should always work, since they will ALWAYS be below future thresholds. However, all attempts to update these guidelines yearly will be made by the STO.

 

Application for Assistance (click)

** This application is in a .pdf format.  To obtain a .pdf reader, click here. **