For Schools

General Information

The school plays an important part in helping parents understand the Arizona Adventist Scholarship, Inc. (AASI) tax credit program. They also help parents with the required forms for application and verification of Public School attendance and send completed forms to AASI for processing in a timely manner. School scholarship personnel recommend eligible students to the AASI Board for a scholarship. Donors may also recommend a student for a scholarship award.

A school tuition organization cannot award, restrict or reserve scholarships solely on the basis of recommendation. Also, a taxpayer may not claim a tax credit if the taxpayer agrees to swap donations with another taxpayer to benefit either taxpayer’s own dependent. You may not designate your own dependent as a potential recipient. (A.R.S. §43-1603)

Scholarship Application

Parents or guardians must submit a Scholarship Application and Income Declaration Form each school year for each child in order to be considered for a scholarship. Forms are available at each school or by contacting the AASI office. Forms for printing can be obtained by selecting the buttons below. Forms that are not fully completed will be rejected.

Options for submitting the forms:

Hand-deliver to the child’s school Secretary OR
Mail to: AZ Adventist Scholarships, Inc., P.O. Box 12340, Scottsdale, AZ 85267-2340 ~ OR ~
E-Mail to: taxcredit@azconference.org Subject: Scholarship Application and Income Declaration

Application Deadlines

Applications must be received by AASI by these dates in order to meet the award deadlines.

For October 2022 Scholarship Awards	For December 2022 Scholarship Awards	For February 2023 Scholarship Awards	For May 2023 Scholarship Awards
September 15, 2022	November 10, 2022	January 17, 2023	April 10, 2023

Award Dates

Schools will receive student scholarship notification and award amounts as follows.

October 2022 Awards	December 2022 Awards	February 2023 Awards	May 2023 Awards
Week of October 17	Week of December 15	Week of February 17	Week of May 15

How Tax Credits Work

A tax credit is different than a normal donation made to a charity. Instead of reducing your taxable federal income, it directly reduces your state tax liability (the state tax you pay that your employer deducts from your paycheck or what you are billed at the end of the tax year).

Each year Arizona State sets a cap on the donation limit for single tax filers and those filing taxes as married/joint. This determines the maximum amount taxpayers can expect to receive as dollar-for-dollar credit against their tax liability. In 2021, this amount is $1219 for single taxpayers, and $2435 for married taxpayers filing joint.

To obtain the tax credit, donors must report their donation to the Department of Revenue either on paper tax form or via an online tax filing program, whichever filing method you utilize. Donations can be made up to April 15 each year but needs to be made prior to filing your taxes. Tax credit up to April 15 can still be claimed on the previous year’s tax year.

Donations must be made through Arizona Adventist Scholarships, not sent to a church or to the child’s school to receive a tax credit from the State. Donations are received and distributed by AASI in the form of tuition scholarships.

For detailed information on how the tax credit program works, please watch the “How Tax Credits Work” slideshow on the home page.

Practical Examples of How Tax Credits Work

To better understand how tax credits work, CLICK HERE TO SEE SEVERAL DESCRIPTIVE FAMILY SCENARIOS.

Eligibility and Funding Sources

There are two scholarship funding sources. “Original” funds are part of the original state tax credit plan for private schools. Students are eligible for these scholarship funds if they are enrolled in an AZ Adventist school, their parent or guardian resides in Arizona, and the child has a current scholarship application on file in the AASI office.

“Switcher” (also called PLUS or Overflow) funds benefit students that have met eligibility requirements above and have “switched” from public to private school, are enrolling in, or are currently enrolled in, a private school kindergarten, children that are enrolling in, or are currently enrolled in, a preschool for children with disabilities, or those who are dependents of a member of the armed forces of the United States who is stationed in Arizona pursuant to military orders. A student that received a switcher individual scholarship under one of the above criteria in a prior year and the child continued to attend a private school in subsequent years is also eligible.

Students switching from Public School to a private school are only eligible to receive scholarships from this funding source if they have submitted a completed Public School Verification form for approval by the AASI Office. The student must have attended an Arizona public school for a minimum of 90 days during the prior fiscal year before enrolling in the private school. Parents can obtain a printable form below. The Public School must complete the form.