Click here to access our application. Our 2023-24 Tax Credit Scholarship online application opened at 8 am on January 12, 2023. You must complete the online application as Step 1.

See the Application Information section of this website for more details on the application process.

To be prepared for application day, see our Application Day Cheat Sheet here.

You will need to know your email address, county that you live in, number of people in your household, household income (adjusted gross income), the public school district your live in, and the school of choice for each child.

See our Application Information section for details on the application process.

If your income for 2022 is lower than 2021, you will need to enter your 2021 income in Step 1 of the application and in the comment box at the end, state that your 2022 income is lower and enter your 2022 income amount.

Once you complete Step 1 of the online application, you will see a confirmation screen with your date-time stamp and receive an email (check your spam and junk folders) within a few hours confirming the completion of your application and your date-time stamp.

Shortly after completing Step 1 of the application, you will receive a confirmation email with your date-time stamp. Throughout the year, applicants will be kept informed of their waitlist status via email. Please save sgoapp@bigshouldersfund.org to your contacts list to receive all time-sensitive information.

We will reach out to applicants via email to complete Step 2 of the application.

Big Shoulders Fund awards scholarships between February and December. Upon being awarded, an official award notice and School Commitment Form (SCF) will be sent to the email address provided on your application.

You will need to bring a copy of your award notice and a signed SCF to your school. The school is responsible for returning the SCF to Big Shoulders Fund, but you must work with your school to ensure that the form is returned to us within 10 days to accept the scholarship.

A Tax Credit Scholarship does not guarantee acceptance into the school chosen on the application. Applicants must still apply and gain acceptance to a qualifying nonpublic school.

You will remain on our Step 1 waitlist in date-time stamp order until we need further documentation to verify your income and address for Step 2.

Big Shoulders Fund will reach out to a limited number of applicants via email to complete Step 2 of the application. Once you have submitted all necessary documents, a Step 2 waitlist confirmation email will be sent. You will remain on the Step 2 waitlist, in date-time stamp order until funding becomes available.

The Tax Credit Scholarship application that opens on January 12, 2023 is exclusively for the 2023-24 school year. Students who are awarded scholarships must reapply each year.

If you made a mistake, you may submit a change by completing an Application Change Request form.

If you forgot to apply for a child, please complete the Tax Credit Scholarship application again for that child only. You will have different date-time stamps for each application.

If a family’s Tax Credit Scholarship Application was denied, this means that the information provided for household address and/or household income did not meet the guidelines, as defined by the Illinois Invest in Kids Act. View Income Chart here.

An application will also be denied if we do not receive your complete Step 2 documents within the 10 day window stated in your Step 2 document request email.

If you currently receive a Big Shoulders Fund traditional scholarship you can apply for a Tax Credit Scholarship! It is important to note, however, that most students cannot receive both a Tax Credit Scholarship and a traditional Big Shoulders Fund scholarship.

Tax Credit Scholarships are separate from our existing private scholarship programs and require families to apply separately.

The Tax Credit Scholarship is not automatically renewable from year to year. We encourage you to look into the renewability of any other scholarship your student may receive and what effect accepting a Tax Credit Scholarship may have on your student’s participation in those other programs.