Catholic tuition organization helps make the ‘impossible’ achievable

JoAnne Nalls, a single mother, knew her son Christopher dreamed of attending Seton Catholic Preparatory High School. But she thought it was out of the question.

Thanks to a scholarship from the Catholic Tuition Organization of the Diocese of Phoenix, his dream came true: Christopher gradated from the school in 2006 and is now a straight-A student at the University of Arizona.

“When he started at Seton, the tuition was $6,800. It could have been $68 million — it was impossible,” JoAnne said. “I was a single mom and I mean I could hardly feed us. Without the CTODP, I never could have done it.”

The environment of faith found in Catholic schools was a major factor in her decision to send her son to Seton.

“The principles and the morals and the religious base the school was offering was important to me — it’s not just academics. I was raising him with those standards and principles alone and it helped that the school reinforced those values and morals,” JoAnne said.

Christopher said the strong Catholic faith the school helped him develop has served him well at the university.

“The Catholic faith and everything I learned in so many years of religion class and being in a faith-based community really helped,” he said. “You go out in this big university where people are really skeptical of what I believe — it helped prepare me to deal with these skeptics and be able to argue my point.”

Helping taxpayers

As the Dec. 31 deadline approaches, the Catholic Tuition Organization for the Diocese of Phoenix is encouraging Arizona taxpayers to take advantage of the dollar-for-dollar tax credit that benefits low-income students attending diocesan schools.

Arizona lawmakers passed legislation in 1997 that allowed taxpayers to contribute to qualified tuition organizations like the CTODP. The law permits dollar-for-dollar tax credits to individuals contributing up to $500 and married couples who file jointly contributing up to $1,000 to tuition organizations for private schools.

The CTODP granted $10.9 million in scholarship money to 5,249 students this year, most with severe financial need.

Paul Mulligan, executive director of the CTODP, said the money contributed to the organization last year helped many low-income students attend Catholic schools. He said the contributions also saved the taxpayers millions of dollars because the average tuition tax credit award is only a fraction of what it costs the government to place a child in public school.

Transforming lives

Joanna Garcia, a senior at Xavier Catholic Preparatory, said a CTODP scholarship made it possible to attend the central Phoenix all-girls school.

During her sophomore year, her parents’ small business began faltering due to the economic crisis. She said they had always told her not to worry about finances and that her only job was to learn. They considered her Catholic education priceless.

Garcia did start to worry, however, when she noticed her parents coming home late, exhausted and struggling to keep the business afloat. For a while she thought she would be unable to return to Xavier for her junior year.

Carol Crockett, Xavier’s advancement director, said the CTODP scholarships help many students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend the school.

“What’s so wonderful about CTODP is it’s a gift that transforms a life. It doesn’t really cost the person anything to do it because it’s redirecting tax dollars, so it’s a win-win for everybody,” she said.

Garcia hopes to study at Fordham or Princeton next year and major in clinical psychology, ultimately earning a doctorate. She also plans to join the Peace Corps and work in Latin America.

Answer to prayer

For Tamara Estrada, a first-grade student at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, a CTODP scholarship was an answer to her parents’ prayers.

Maria and Luis Estrada had decided to send their daughter to St. Francis Xavier for kindergarten in 2008, but just before the school year began, Joe lost his job as a supervisor with a lawn maintenance company. Maria was expecting their fifth child.

They worried they wouldn’t be able to pay the utilities, let alone Catholic school tuition.

“We prayed and we prayed and we felt God was going to provide for us,” Maria said. That’s when a CTODP scholarship was made available to the family. Tamara began kindergarten at St. Francis Xavier.

Luis, who’s launched his own landscaping business since losing his job, has lost a lot of customers due to the recession.

“We didn’t think we could do it this year, but we just prayed. We felt at peace,” Maria said. “We applied for CTODP scholarship money and that really helped us. Without that, we couldn’t do it.”

Although she said she knows faith begins at home, the extra support a Catholic school provides really nourishes a child’s faith and helps it grow.

“Faith is a very important component of our lives. It has helped us through difficult times,” Maria said. “We can work with kids and provide the faith environment they need, but if we have support at school, that’s even better. School plays a big role in their formation.”

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