Financial Aid
It is our belief at GISSV that there can be no excellence in education without all types of diversity, including socio-economic and ethnic diversity. Teaching children to respect and appreciate the beliefs, values, and histories of all individuals is as necessary for success in our world as is a solid grounding in science, math and language.
Qualifying for Financial Aid
When determining if your family should apply for aid, please look at all personal resources for meeting costs first. We anticipate that this will involve some degree of sacrifice. We ask that you give careful thought to the maximum amount of tuition which you can reasonably pay. If all available resources, including extended family, are still not enough to meet tuition costs, then the family may qualify for aid. There are no absolute guidelines by which you can determine your own eligibility, because each case is unique.
Need-Based Scholarships
Families can apply for financial aid for students entering grades K through 12. GISSV uses professional third party professionals in the field of tuition assistance to assess household income/assets and each family’s ability to pay for education. The school makes every effort to meet the demonstrated need of all admitted or enrolled financial aid applicants; however, resources are not always sufficient. In alignment with GISSV's goal to use the instrument of financial aid to increase economic as well as ethnic diversity and to help ensure sufficiently large graduating classes, all applicants are scored based on the following criteria:
- Diversity
- Returning >5 Years
- High Economic Need
- Low Class Size (<13 Students)
- Moderate Economic Need
- High School
- Returning 3-5 Years
- Transfer from Local School
- Came from GISSV Saturday School
- Middle School
- Low Economic Need
- Returning 1-2 Years
- Other German Saturday School Bonus
We encourage all families to apply; however, we cannot guarantee that each request will be fulfilled or that it can be fulfilled at the level requested.
Due to the large number of families applying for financial assistance and the limited timeframe within which awards are to be made, it is critical that all documents be submitted according to the prescribed deadlines for returning and new students. Requests after the deadline will not be considered for financial aid.
Please note that currently enrolled families are required to be up-to-date on their tuition payments in order to be eligible for financial aid.
The school notifies applicants of financial aid decisions before expecting a binding reply to the offer of enrollment.
All information provided during the financial aid process is kept in strict confidence.
We will open the Tuition Assistance process at the end of January 2023 and provide our decision by March 31, 2023.
To Apply for Financial Aid
Important Dates
Our next financial aid application period is for the 2023-2024 school year. To be eligible for consideration, you must complete your Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS) by March 1, 2023. We will communicate award decisions by April 15, 2023. Please also be aware that in order for the school to process any financial aid applications, we must have first received enrollment documents from your family.
Complete Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS)
You only have to complete one Parents’ Financial Statement, even if you are applying for several children.
1. Go to solutionsbysss.
2. Click on the “Login” button.
3. You will set up a PFS Online account using your email address and a password. Returning parents: If you completed an online PFS application last year, use your e-mail address and existing password.
4. Submit and pay for the PFS ($55). This fee is nonrefundable.
Additional Required Documents
In addition to your completed Parents’ Financial Statement, you need to submit the following documents to the SSS website:
- A copy of 2022 W2s
- A copy of your filed 2022 federal taxes
We must receive these documents by March 1, 2023.
You can upload these documents as a PDF or a .jpg file on the "Manage Documents" tab in PFS Online.
Call SSS Customer Service at (800) 344-8328 with any questions (M-F: 9 am - 8 pm EST., Sat: 9 am - 4 pm EST).