Applications are accepted January through November. The 2020-2021 school year begins 7/1/2020 and ends 6/30/2021. Planning for the school year starts as soon as the student skills assessments are returned to your advisor for evaluation.
Annual Enrollment Fees
Enroll Early & Save
As a special "thank you" for starting your planning before the busy spring/summer season, a 5% discount on the annual enrollment fees is available to all families that enroll by March 15, 2020! The special code to receive the discount will display at the end of the enrollment application.
Come join us for the new year!
1. Submit the enrollment application online ~ or ~ with an advisor by phone.
2. Pay the annual enrollment fees by check, money order, credit card, or payment plan.
3. Watch for your welcome/assessment packet to arrive in the mail within a few days.
Services Included | Submitting Payment | Other Expected Costs | Options for the Academic Year | Refund Policy
Services included in the annual enrollment package:
FOR PARENTS
- Evaluation of skills assessment (one per student)
- An Academic Packet of personalized course recommendations, course plans, and book ordering information provided by email (one per student)
- Support for teaching-parents from experienced homeschool advisors by telephone appointment, member forums, and email (one advisor assigned to your whole family to help align your students' studies)
- Variety of forms and resources provided on the Member Support Site to help track, organize, and guide your homeschooling
- Open invitation to add any of the options available to member families as long as your student's enrollment is active (see "Options for the Academic Year" below)
FOR STUDENTS
- Access to the Student Zone for course Q&A forums, weekly graded quizzes, and gradebooks to help track and calculate quarter grades and progress (for students in Grades 7 through 12; web resources dependent on courses students are registered for)
- Monthly teleconference discussions and student book club led by a high school advisor (for students in Grades 8 through 12; encouraged, but not required)
- Students studying high school courses may join their teaching-parent on the line for high school advisor support appointments
APPOINTMENTS INCLUDED WITH ENROLLMENT (PER FAMILY)
Personal one-on-one academic counseling by telephone is the heart of the St. Thomas Aquinas Academy program. After the initial planning appointment for the academic year, each member family has access to one planning follow-up appointment and then two additional appointments per student with either their family's academic advisor or their high school advisor. Additional advisor appointments may be purchased as often as desired throughout the school year for $35.00 for a 45-minute session.
| Number of Students Enrolled | Total of Annual Enrollment Fees for Family | Appointments Included with Enrollment |
|---|---|---|
| One Student | $305.00 | 1 x 75-minute planning appointment + 3 x 45-minute support appointments |
| Two Students | $510.00 | 1 x 75-minute planning appointment + 5 x 45-minute support appointments |
| Three Students | $715.00 | 1 x 75-minute planning appointment + 7 x 45-minute support appointments |
| Four Students | $920.00 | 2 x 75-minute planning appointments + 9 x 45-minute support appointments |
| Five Students | $1125.00 | 2 x 75-minute planning appointments + 11 x 45-minute support appointments |
| Six Students | $1145.00* | 2 x 75-minute planning appointments + 13 x 45-minute support appointments |
| Seven Students | $1319.75* | 2 x 75-minute planning appointments + 15 x 45-minute support appointments |
| Eight Students | $1494.00* | 2 x 75-minute planning appointments + 17 x 45-minute support appointments |
*The Student Enrollment Fees are discounted by 15% when enrolling six or more students
Submitting Payment
After submitting the enrollment application, enrollment fees may be paid by mailing in a check or money order. Alternatively, fees may be paid online by VISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, payment plan, or PayPal. All online credit card, payment plan, and PayPal payments are subject to a 3% processing fee.
Other Expected Costs
The enrollment fees listed above are paid directly to St. Thomas Aquinas Academy once per academic year. The following lists other regular costs associated with the school year. Member families purchase the books, materials, study guides, or standardized tests directly from the suppliers as needed by their students. The Academic Packets provided by STAA and the conversations with your academic advisor clearly outline what is necessary and what to order for each course.
BOOKS AND MATERIALS
St. Thomas Aquinas Academy does not sell books or materials. Your student's Academic Packet will have detailed ordering information for the materials necessary for each recommended course. The packet will direct you to our favorite suppliers, but you may take the edition and ISBN information from the packet and obtain the materials for your student from any supplier available to you. Books and materials typically run between $250-$600 per student, per school year, lessened, of course, by how many of the materials you already have on hand. The core materials we recommend are listed by cycle in the Grammar School and High School sections of our website.
HIGH SCHOOL STUDY PACKAGES
All students studying STAA's high school courses should expect their detailed course plans package to cost approximately $39.95 to $49.95 per semester. The high school study packages are printed on-demand when ordered from the printer following the course registration phase of the student's planning. The detailed, daily plans for some seventh and eighth grade courses are also bound into booklets printed on-demand when ordered from the printer. The junior high booklets range in price from $14.95 to $29.90.
STANDARDIZED TESTING
St. Thomas Aquinas Academy evaluates a skills assessment to help place students in materials appropriate for their academic skills. We do not sell or administer any standardized tests. Standardized tests are encouraged at least every other school year starting in Grade 5. Two standardized tests are required as part of the high school diploma program (one in Grade 11 and at least one more in Grade 9, 10, or 12). Seton Testing has a variety of standardized tests available to homeschooling families. College-bound high school students are encouraged to take the PSAT, SAT, ACT, and SAT Subject Tests as recommended by the universities they wish to attend. All such standardized testing should be arranged for with the test providers. Please also check with the Home School Legal Defense Association or other legal experts to determine how often and which standardized tests the educational codes of your state require homeschoolers to take (if any).
INTERNATIONAL FAMILIES
Please contact our office if you have a mailing address that is outside of the United States so we can calculate the mailing fee for the welcome/assessment packet for you (usually $25.00 to $55.00 USD depending on location and number of students). Note that our advisors are only able to dial numbers in the U.S. and Canada. If you are outside of the U.S. or Canada, you will be asked to dial your advisor's telephone number directly for all scheduled appointments.
Enrollment Fees | Services Included | Other Expected Costs | Options for the Academic Year | Refund Policy
Options for the Academic Year
The following options and add-on services are available for member families to add to their student's enrollment services as desired.
PAYMENT PLAN FEE
Payment in full for the annual enrollment fees may be made by check, money order, VISA, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express. However, if you would like to break the enrollment fees into payments made over the course of three or five months, an automatic credit card payment plan is available to you. To calculate the monthly payment, take the total amount due and divide it by 3 or 5. A payment plan initiation fee will be applied to the first month's payment. The first payment is paid with the application and then on that same day each month by automatic, scheduled charge to the credit card you use to create the payment plan until the balance has been paid in full.
PRINTING/BINDING ACADEMIC PACKETS
The Academic Packet for each student includes the advisor notes, personalized course recommendations, course teaching notes, detailed book ordering information, and course pacing information and/or weekly plans (or overviews of the detailed daily plans in the STAA Study Guides). The Academic Packets are sent to each family by email once following the assessment evaluation and a second time after the students register for courses. You may order copies of your family's Academic Packets printed and bound into a single softcover book for between $19.95 and $39.95 plus shipping. The final price of the bound Academic Packets book depends on how many students you have enrolled. If you elect to skip ordering the bound Academic Packets book, we recommend printing the Academic Packets that are emailed to you on three-hole punched paper and sliding them into a sturdy binder.
TRANSCRIPT AND REPORT CARD OPTION ($65.00 per student)
The Report Card/Transcript program is an option that you may add to your student's enrollment after the assessment evaluation and planning appointment with your advisor. The annual fee for the Report Card/Transcript option is $65.00 per student. The fee is due along with the Course Registration form you will be asked to submit following the telephone appointment with your academic advisor.
To develop a transcript with St. Thomas Aquinas Academy, the student and teaching-parent will be asked to mail a reporting packet to the academy at the end of each semester (two per year). This process is carefully explained, but do expect to prepare and mail two packages of work sample copies along with a few forms each school year.
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS
Students taking high school courses through St. Thomas Aquinas Academy may choose a graduation path that best meets their needs:
- STAA Transcript and STAA Diploma: Studying STAA courses with the intention of earning an STAA diploma. Students electing this option need to add the Report Card/Transcript program to their enrollment each year of high school as well as arrange for any Grade 9 and Grade 10 credits from other institutions transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas Academy.
- STAA Transcript Only: Studying STAA courses to develop a transcript with the academy but drawing a diploma from another source such as their own homeschool. Students electing this option need to add the Report Card/Transcript program to their enrollment each year.
- No STAA Transcript and No STAA Diploma: Studying STAA courses and maintaining their own transcript within their homeschool or with another institution and NOT drawing a diploma from STAA. The Report Card/Transcript program is not necessary for students on this path.
HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT TRANSFERS
Students transferring in high school credits from a previous year of high school or outside institution should expect the credit evaluation process to cost between $35-$65 per academic year. The credit evaluation process will take place after your planning appointment.
ADDITIONAL ADVISOR APPOINTMENTS
The core enrollment package includes one Course of Study Planning appointment per family (two if enrolling four or more students), one follow-up appointment per family, and two support appointments per student. You may arrange as many additional appointments as desired throughout the school year. To peruse the offerings and per session costs for adding appointments and special services, visit Appointments for Member Families.
Enrollment Fees | Services Included | Other Expected Costs | Options for the Academic Year | Refund Policy
Refund Policy
If you find that you need to cancel enrollment, please submit the Notice of Withdrawal form found in your welcome/assessment packet. The $100.00 Family Registration Fee is not refundable after the welcome/assessment packet has been mailed. The window to request a refund of the Student Enrollment Fees closes after 90 days or the Course of Study Planning appointment, whichever comes first. Our full refund policy is available online and enclosed in the welcome/assessment packet.
» Click to learn more about canceling enrollment and refunds »