For Families

Welcome! South Dakota Partners in Education is excited to work with your family on your student’s education journey. Finding the right school for your child can be hard, and we believe that tuition costs should not be a barrier for any student. Parents should be able to determine the school that is best for their child.

If you are interested in applying for a tax-credit scholarship, you’re in the right place. The application for the 2024-2025 school year will open February 1st.

Applying for a tax-credit scholarship is easy:

  • Step 1

    Review the Parent Handbook to learn more about our program and to confirm your are eligible to apply for a tax-credit scholarship.

  • Step 2

    Complete the application form through TADS. SDPE will review completed applications to determine eligibility. The application deadline is June 30.

  • Step 3

    Complete your school enrollment process. Be sure your school of choice is an SDPE partner and has completed all membership requirements.

FAQs

Each school sets their own tuition rates. In some cases, the scholarship will cover the full cost of tuition and fees. However, at other schools, the tuition is more than the amount of the scholarship. The parent is then responsible for the remainder of the tuition expense. We suggest you contact the school and explore additional financial aid options.

Scholarship dollars come from the generous contributions of insurance companies who do business in South Dakota. These companies honor their commitment to local communities by choosing to take a tax credit for their contribution to the SDPE scholarship fund.

Yes. Once your child qualifies for an SDPE scholarship, they will receive the scholarship for three years. After three years, the family must reapply to verify their income eligibility. High school students who qualify are eligible for each year they are in high school and do not need to reapply.

Prior to the start of school, a Conditional Notification will be emailed to you when your child’s application is accepted. You must enroll your child in the private school of your choice. Once SDPE verifies that your child is enrolled and attending the school, we will send your scholarship check to the school. The check is made out to the parent/guardian and requires you to endorse the check so it can be applied to your child’s tuition account.

Yes. A student may transfer to another SDPE partner school and take the unused portion of the scholarship with them to the new private school. You are responsible to pay any outstanding debts you may have at the school before the unused portion of the scholarship will be sent to the new school.

No. However, if you have a bill at the school for tuition or fees that is not covered by the scholarship, you are responsible to pay the school the amount you owe.

No. The school administration will know about your child’s scholarship because they must verify that your child is attending the school. We do not publicly disclose the names of scholarship recipients or their families. In the spirit of appreciation, we ask that you consider sharing an anonymous testimonial as a thank you to our contributors.

Please check our list of participating schools to see if your private school is a member school. We have 45 schools in our partner network located in communities across South Dakota.

TADS is the online service for the scholarship application. You will be asked to create an account, upload documents to verify your income, and pay a fee to submit the application. TADS is a secure site that protects your privacy and sensitive documents.

Share Your Story

If your family has benefited from an SDPE scholarship, we would love to hear from you!

Take Action

Thank your legislator or encourage them to support us by sharing your story.

Eligibility Quiz

Take this short test from Ed Choice to see if your family is eligible.