Due to the high cost of child care, KidSpirit gives out scholarships and allows families to make payment plans to pay as they are able for their programs. Scholarships are awarded to families based on need (financial and situational) and the amount of funding available to KidSpirit. This decision will be made by Karen Swanger and the student worker in charge of scholarships.
Academic year applications are due two weeks before the start of classes. There will be some cases where we can adjust this deadline, just ask Karen.
Summer applications are due the third Monday in May by 5pm
Submit a KidSpirit scholarship application (there is an academic year and summer application)
Submit a registration for each child. The registration indicates what your need is.
Complete one of the following steps
Head Start families must submit the following:
Scholarship Application and Registration
Documentation that they quality for Head Start
Free/ Reduced Lunch families must submit the following:
Scholarship Application and Registration
Documentation that they quality for Free/ Reduced Lunch
Applications for foster children must submit the following:
Scholarship Application and Registration
A letter of need from the case worker
Requests for all other parties must submit the following:
Scholarship Application and Registration
One-page, typed statement describing circumstances and need for requesting an OSU KidSpirit Summer Day Camp Scholarship
A letter of recommendation, from a non-family member, addressing the parent/ guardian level of need and how/ why the OSU KidSpirit Summer Day Camp will benefit the child
A copy of a current pay stub(s) and document all additional sources of monthly income
Applications may be submitted by mail, email (kidspirit@oregonstate.edu), or hand delivery to the KidSpirit Office.
Academic year decisions will be made within a week of the application arriving at the KidSpirit Office.
Summer Decisions will be notified about decisions starting June 1st. If June 1st falls on a weekend, we will start sending out decisions on the first Monday of June.
Processing a Scholarship Application through the Office
Make sure the whole form is filled out and the extra documents are attached. If they aren’t, please ask the family when we should be getting the documents. We cannot process the application until we have all relevant materials.
Send a message in the Office Scholarships slack channel that we have received a new application. The slack should be formatted like this: (Student worker name), we received a scholarship application for (List program) for (list child’s name). @(Student worker name)
Example – Jessica, we received a scholarship application for Spring Gymnastics for Mary Marshall. @jessicaschaub
Place the application in the envelope in the back counter
Allotment Decisions
Scholarship amounts will not include extra fees, i.e. chefs in motion, rock climbing
Compile applications into binder, organize by last name. Keep a spreadsheet of name, sessions, total amount requesting, and guardian name.
Make sure you are comfortable with the scholarship spreadsheet, follow the directions on each page to see what you need to do
The highest percentage of scholarship awarded to any applicant is 50% of each session requested on their application.
Allocate the funds according to needs until the total amount granted equal the total amount available.
It is better to give everyone a little if there is money, for example, give each applicant at least 50% of one session, before handing out 50% of multiple sessions.
During the school year, we tend to only give scholarships out to families who are head start and/or free/reduced lunch.
Notification of Scholarships
Using a template for the award letter, mail merge the spreadsheet to create individual award letters. Make sure the amount on the letters are accurate before sending them out!
Once you have ensured all the letters are accurate, print out the letters, scan each letter individually and attach them to the participant’s registration.
Copy and paste the participant’s letter into Ideal-Logic and send them personalized emails with the amount they have been granted for their scholarship.
If families have not responded within a week of sending out the email, call the family and inform them of the decision.
Once the family has accepted the scholarship, transfer the child’s name to the accepted offer spreadsheet and break down how much money is due each session based off the scholarship. This information then needs to be sent to the family so they know how much is due each session. This information will also be used on their Ideal-Logic account to make a note of how much is due for each session.
Payment plans can be set up for the remaining balance according to KidSpirit office policies and noted on the applicant’s account on Idea-Logic.
All correspondence can be kept in the scholarship binder organized at the beginning of the process, including a copy of all payments.
When a family is not able to pay their entire registration fee for a program by the due date, we are willing to work out payment plans with them to help them spread out their payments. It is important that we formally create a payment plan with a family once we have reached the deadline to create accountability. Until a family has either paid their balance or worked out a payment plan, their child may not be allowed to participate.
Talk with the parent about important dates, such as when they get their next paycheck, when their program runs until etc… Using this information, write out a payment plan with the parent including what dates they will make payments and how much they will pay in each installment. Make sure that the plan is realistic; don’t expect them to make multiple payments in one week but also avoid dragging the payment plan out beyond the program end date.
Have the parent read over the plan and agree to it. Make adjustments as necessary.
Go onto the child’s account on Ideal-logic. For the relevant registration, click “View Details.” Click the “Charges and Payments” tab and scroll down to the bottom where is says “Payment Plan.”
Click “Add a Scheduled Payment.” Enter the date and amount and then press Add Scheduled Payment. Repeat this step for each payment in the written plan.
Upload payment plan to Ideal-Logic.
Create a note on the child’s account detailing the payment plan information.