Apply to both SGO’s!

This year, we once again anticipate much hatzlacha with this program b’ezras Hashem through BOTH of those SGO’s.

JDBY-YTT STRONGLY encourages all eligible families to apply to BOTH SGO’s

*IMPORTANT*

• For Big Shoulders Fund:
  • All JDBY-YTT students entering Pre1A/K through 8th grade should be listed as attending Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov. This applies to both boys and girls.
• For Empower Illinois:
  • All JDBY GIRLS entering K-8 should be listed as attending Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov
  • All YTT BOYS entering Pre1A-8 should be listed as attending Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi
  • Students entering Nursery in 23-24 are not eligible to receive STC awards
  • While we love all our students currently in 8th grade, they will not be attending JDBY-YTT during 23-24 so you won’t see JDBY-YTT as a school option. Please select a high school.
  • A student is eligible up to 400% FPL if that student received an STC award in ANY previous year. If you’re asked to upload proof of scholarship, you can create a pdf of the award notification email you received from the SGO and upload it. Siblings of an awardee who have NOT previously been awarded remain eligible to 300% FPL. (See details below.)
  • For Big Shoulders Fund, your tax return is not sufficient proof of IL residency even if it shows your current address. You will need to upload another form of proof of address such as driver license, utility bill, etc.

• Any student who received an STC award in 22-23 will have priority status for 23-24 over students who did not receive in 22-23. It is critically important to inform each SGO if your child received STC in 22-23. If you don’t, that student may not get priority status and may miss out on being awarded.
• If your child(ren) received an STC award in ANY previous year, know this information in advance:
• 1) What is the most recent school year your child(ren) received an STC award
• 2) Which SGO the award came from
• You can search your emails to ascertain this information

ATTENTION ALL FAMILIES BETWEEN 300-400% FPL

• Any student who received an STC award in ANY previous school year is eligible to 400% FPL. Siblings who have not been awarded unfortunately do not enjoy expanded eligibility to 400%, and instead remain capped at 300%.
• Empower Illinois will be updating their application to revise their question about whether a student has received an award in the previous year. They are planning to update this question for the 2023-2024 application to ask 1) if each individual student you are applying for has received an award previously in any year, and 2) if so, in which year most recently, and 3) if that award came from Empower Illinois.
• Big Shoulders Fund will not be updating their 23-24 application for this question. Families who are between 300-400% with children who have been awarded STC in ANY previous school year should say YES to the question asking if your child received an award in 22-23. If the child actually received in 22-23, great! No further action is necessary regarding this. If the child did NOT receive STC in 22-23 but DID receive STC in a previous school year, applicants should include information in the comments box at the end of the application stating 1) which children did not actually receive in 22-23 but did receive in a previous year and 2) the most recent year they received, and 3) which SGO awarded that child.