A Special Thank You to Our GOAL Participants

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who participated in the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program in 2010. A total of 286 contributors – more than double the number from last year – redirected over $500,000 of their Georgia tax dollars to help fund tuition assistance for new students entering pre-K, kindergarten or transferring from a public school. Out of the 107 participating schools, Darlington ranked third in the state. 

The GOAL initiative continues to make a difference for many new students and for Darlington School as a whole. In addition to providing students with a choice in their education, it frees up some of our budgeted financial aid dollars to be used to help current families who are making real sacrifices to keep their children here in these tough economic times The Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program has actually helped keep tuition lower for our current families – saving each family over $250 per tuition.

It is important to note, though, that the recipients of GOAL, or any other sort of financial aid, must first be accepted to Darlington before any financial assistance is awarded. The school’s admission process is need blind and based solely on merit. Only once a student has been accepted does the financial aid process begin, with Darlington striving to meet the needs of accepted students who qualify for assistance.

By now, we have all received our W-2 forms and are thinking about filing our taxes (if you haven’t already done so!) Remember, if you redirected a portion of your state tax dollars to the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program in 2010, you qualify for a charitable tax deduction on your federal return and a tax credit on your Georgia return. Let me know if you have any questions or need assistance.

We hope we can count on your participation in 2011!