School Fees Assistance
The Catholic Church's preferential option for the poor obligates Catholic schools to ensure that no baptised student is denied a Catholic education because of an inability to pay (MACS website).
We provide a number of ways for families to obtain assistance where there is an issue with payment of fees.
As part of your school search, cost can be a significant factor, but at St Patrick's be believe that the most influential factor in choosing a school should be whether it is the “right fit” for the student.
St Patrick's focuses on ensuring that students thrive by meeting their academic, social and emotional needs. As a result we are a school that embraces students from all types of backgrounds. We do this by embodying our Catholic value of ensuring baptised students are not denied a Catholic education because of an inability to pay. As such, St Patrick's ensures that cost is not a barrier to joining our school community.
We encourage any family that is facing a financial challenge to contact us early to have a discussion. We understand that these conversations can be uncomfortable but we treat all information with the strictest confidence, with the least number of people involved as possible, and do whatever we can to assist families in need.
This assistance can be in the form of Government assistance, concessional fees, payment plans and hardship fee-assistance.
We encourage families to reach out to our Finance Officer, Debbie Amodio, as early as possible via email (finance@spkilmore.catholic.edu.au) or call on (03) 5782 1579 (option 2).
Conveyance Allowance
The State Government has a Conveyance Allowance program that provides families with financial support with the cost of transporting children to school in regional areas. If your family lives more than 4.8km from St Patrick's and our school is your closest Catholic primary school, then you may be eligible for this program. The assistance is paid to the school against school fees for car travel and paid to Assumption College against bus fees for bus travel.
Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF)
The CSEF provides eligible families with a payment towards school fees to offset the cost of camps and excursions. If the parents/carers/guardians of a student hold a Health Card Card, Aged Pension Card, DVA Gold Card, etc, then we encourage those families to apply for the CSEF to help reduce school fees.
The 2024 Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) Application Form can be found here.
Concessional Fee Policy
Late in 2021, our head office, MACS, released a new Concessional Fee Policy, which provides reduced fees for: families of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent; families with Health Care or DVA Cards; or those families facing severe financial hardship
If you believe that you may be eligible for a concessional fee, please contact Deb Amodio (finance@spkilmore.catholic.edu.au) to request the documentation to apply for the concessional fee. The concessional fee must be paid by direct debit and the concessional fee is not retrospective, and any existing debt stands in full.
The concessional fee does not apply to camp fees, and camp fees are to be paid in addition to your concessional fee.
If you do not apply for the CSEF for 2024, then you will not be eligible for the Concessional Fee support. Please ensure that if you are eligible, that you apply as soon as possible to avoid missing out.
The Concessional Fee Policy can be found here.
The Concessional Fee Application Form can be found here.