The Episcopal School of Dallas opened in 1974 with eleven students and a faculty of two, organized around a mission to ignite a life of purpose in each student through the development of an educated conscience. Today, that mission is reflected in a rigorous college preparatory curriculum, meaningful relationships between students and faculty, an outdoor education program that still treats nature as a teacher, and their founding Episcopal conviction that every student is made in the image of a loving God.

For a mission like that to be realized, the school has to live it. ESD's tuition assistance program is what makes the difference, and as part of their ongoing effort to reduce barriers for families, the school saw an opportunity to make the tuition assistance application process easier and more accessible.

Reducing the Friction Families Feel

"The application process for families could be cumbersome and long," shared Shelle Montgomery, Director of Data Processing Systems and Tuition Assistance at The Episcopal School of Dallas. 

Whereas their previous platform required families to enter exact dollar amounts for each expense line, Clarity uses a sliding scale that lets a family report a range.

"Some families would spend hours trying to determine the exact amounts.”

"The risk of not looking for another platform was that we'd have families who needed tuition assistance decide not to apply.”

"Applying for tuition assistance requires families to share sensitive financial information, so making the process as simple and respectful as possible matters,” Montgomery continued.

Clarity’s IRS integration took another piece of the burden off both sides. 

"Having Clarity pull tax documentation directly from the IRS — versus someone having to find, scan, and upload their documents — has been helpful as well.”

"Our families have been pleasantly surprised with how easy it was. They're not dreading applying each year because they know it's seamless. It's no longer going to take their whole day."

Getting Out of the Spreadsheet

Inside the business office, the change was just as concrete. For most of her years at ESD, Montgomery was doing financial aid reporting the way most veteran practitioners do.

"We used to manipulate a lot of our data outside the system in a spreadsheet,” she explained.

"But now, aggregate reporting  — including requests by grade level, verified income, awards offered versus accepted, and other high-level planning data  — are done for us in Clarity."

Winning Over the Biggest Skeptic

"To be quite honest, I was the most resistant one on our team,” shared Montgomery. 

“I'll be starting my 22nd year at ESD, and I had been with our previous vendor from the start. When you've done something for such a long time, thinking about changing is hard,” she added.  

“But I'm glad we changed. I've been pleasantly surprised — and continue to be surprised — by the ease with which I can find what I need."

A Mission Worth Supporting

ESD's tuition assistance program sits at the center of the school's strategy. 

"I'm very blessed to have a board of directors, a head of school, a CFO, and an executive leadership team that really believe in our tuition assistance program," shared Montgomery.

"As we're budgeting, they're being mindful of helping to grow that budget each year because they believe a financial burden should not be a reason a family shouldn't be here at ESD."

That conviction is what every detail of ESD’s tuition assistance work is built to serve. Every completed application represents a family that can fully explore whether ESD is the right place for their child.