Scholarship Opportunities
There are many scholarship opportunities including those below. All applicants must first apply for Financial Aid
Tax Credit Scholarships
Tax Credit Scholarships can provide students with up to 100% of tuition. Students must apply through both Big Shoulders Fund SGO and Empower Illinois. Applications for both open in January
Merit Scholarship
Eighth grade students taking the placement exam in December at St. Francis de Sales High School and who test at the 70th percentile and above are eligible for a merit scholarship between $1,000 and $5,000 to St. Francis de Sales High School. Please note: students should test at their first choice school on the Catholic school testing day in December. Students are only allowed to take one Catholic school test at one Catholic school.
Big Shoulders Fund
Thanks to the generosity of The Big Shoulders Fund and many other donors, SFDS is able to award several other scholarships to incoming freshmen during the spring of the student's eighth grade year. Information about applying for those opportunities will be provided to students who have tested, been accepted and are registered for classes at SFDS.
Kavanaugh, Keating, Weber Scholarship
The Kavanaugh, Keating, Weber Alumni Raffle Scholarship was created in 2017 to honor the founding fathers of the St. Francis de Sales Alumni Raffle. Bob Weber, John Kavanaugh and Jack Keating together founded our annual Alumni Raffle. The Alumni Raffle founding fathers who believed in the mission of St. Francis de Sales High School and created the Raffle to support the school. This scholarship honors these men by selecting one incoming freshman each year to receive a renewable $3000 scholarship. The recipient will be a student who wants to attend St. Francis de Sales but would not be able to without the support of the scholarship. Ideally, the student should be a legacy. The student will be selected by the Director of Community Relations & Admissions from the list of incoming freshman by the fall of each year.
Other Scholarship Opportunities
Many other individuals and scholarship granting organizations support our students, including organizations such as Cuneo, Irish Fellowship Fund, Daniel Murphy, LINK Unlimited, and Moving Foreward, a scholarship exclusive to SFDS