DEERFIELD, IL – In August 2018, the Illinois legislature passed the Illinois Tax Credit Scholarship Program bill, Invest in Kids. This scholarship program awards income based scholarships to students in grades K-12 – click here for income eligibility chart. The Hellenic American Academy is participating in this program thanks to Empower Donors from our Hellenic American community. Current students and new students considering enrollment may apply for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Hellenic American Academy’s Head of Schools Voula Sellountos spoke to The National Herald about the program and the generosity of donors Dean and Hariklia Kanellos who make the Hellenic American Academy Scholarship possible.

She told TNH, “Socrates Day School of the Hellenic American Academy, recognized by the State of Illinois, participates in the new Private School Need Based Scholarship Fund sponsored by the State of providing tax credits to the donors.

“Hariklia and Dean Kanellos, prominent lawyers in our city, have made a generous contribution  to the Scholarship Fund exclusively for our students.

“The Kanellos family has been supporting our school for many years. Together with a handful of other donors, they have financed our new, beautiful, seven-acre school facility in Deerfield, IL to house our 350 students who attend our Day School and the part-time Evening and Saturday Greek language programs.

“The Hellenic American Academy Scholarship fund has raised over $100,000 to assist new and current students who need financial assistance to attend our school. We are encouraging families seeking tuition support to apply for our scholarship and give their children the gift of outstanding Greek-American Education. We thank Dean and Hariklia Kanellos for making this scholarship possible and look forward to other members of our Greek American community contributing to the fund.”

The program is administered by Empower under eligibility guidelines provided by the State of Illinois.

Application Process and Key Dates

Step One:

Part one of Illinois Tax Credit Scholarship application will be available at empowerillinois.org on Tuesday, January 15, at 7 PM. Families are encouraged to begin this application process as soon as possible.

The reservation form will ask you for the following information:

?Parent name

?Contact information (address, phone number, email address)

?Child(ren) name(s)—include ALL children for whom you would like to apply for a scholarship whether they are Hellenic American Academy students or not

Step Two:

Beginning on or about Friday, January 18, you may complete the full scholarship application through the Empower Illinois online student portal. You will receive instructions via email about setting up your student portal after your reservation has been completed (Step One). Empower Illinois will begin awarding scholarships for the 2019–20 academic year on Monday, January 28; therefore, we recommend you submit your application before Monday, January 28, to increase your chances of receiving a scholarship. Partial scholarships will be awarded starting April 1st.

The qualified Hellenic American Academy applicants are eligible to receive funds much greater that the $100,000 explicitly donated for the school by its donors.

More information about Hellenic American Academy is available online: hellenicamericanacademy.org.

For additional information, please visit empowerillinois.org.