The Children’s Scholarship Fund Program

The Children's Scholarship Fund provides partial tuition assistance for low-income families to send their children to private schools. More than 96,000 children have benefited from scholarships across the United States since we began offering assistance in 1998. Currently, almost 29,000 children nationwide are using CSF scholarships. These children are attending private school through the generosity of our donors, the efforts of 38 scholarship programs, and the sacrifices made by the families themselves, who pay—on average—50% of their children's tuition. Our scholarships are truly a hand up, and not a hand out.

The response from families seeking the freedom to choose their children’s education was staggering. For our first scholarships in 1999, the parents of nearly 1.25 million eligible children from over 20,000 communities applied. Most of these families reside in the poorest sections of our urban areas, where their only choice without a scholarship is a low-performing school.

Eligible families are required to demonstrate their financial need as measured by standards similar to the Federal school lunch program, which takes into account family size. The Fund focuses on elementary education because the earlier a child receives sound schooling, the better. Scholarships are awarded to all eligible children in a family to attend the school or schools of their choice.

The Children's Scholarship Fund provides scholarships for children grades Kindergarten - 8th. Children must be 5 years or older to receive scholarships.

How To Apply