If you are thinking about the affordability of a Holland Christian education for your children or grandchildren, there are a number of ways in which you can save—long before the child is first enrolled. Some alumni and future parents begin to participate in these savings plans even before their first child is born! Consider participating in one or all of these to ease the adjustment to paying tuition when your children begin school.
TRIP
TRIP is a program in which families purchase gift certificates through
Holland
Christian
Schools to shop at major food and retail stores. The stores sell the certificates at a discount. The school then sells the certificates at face value to participating families and credits their tuition account with the difference. The percentage of credit earned will vary from store to store (see separate listing of store percentages and denominations available). Anyone in the community can participate, including HC families, future HC families, grandparents, friends, etc., and designate their TRIP earnings to the account of a presently enrolled family, a future family, or to Holland Christian's Tuition Grant Fund.
There is no cost to participate but Holland Christian retains 1/2% of your credits to cover the operational expenses of the TRIP program. The certificates supplied by TRIP are the stores’ actual gift certificates. They are the same as cash; you can buy anything in the store that you would normally buy with cash, check, or credit card. Some stores will allow you to use certificates to make payments on charge accounts.
TRIP uses 20 volunteers a week to run this program. If you can volunteer a few hours a month to the program, we would appreciate your time, but it is not required. To begin participating in this program call Deb Brink (269) 751-8279 or the TRIP office (616) 394-0551. To see a list of all the stores participating in the TRIP program please visit the Holland Christian TRIP page by clicking here:
TRIP
CGive
Do you shop online? Would you like to receive a rebate for your online purchases similar to the rebate you receive from TRIP merchants? CGIVE.org, a website designed by Holland Christian graduates, is an online shopping mall where the rebate credits can benefit your tuition account. Grandparents or friends can also shop and have the rebate credited to the tuition account they designate. Once each year rebate checks are mailed to participants for deposit in their Christian school account.
To sign up for CGIVE.org, please visit their website by clicking here:
CGive
Tuition Gift Certificates
The Tuition Gift Certificate program allows families to pre-purchase tuition at today’s tuition rates to use in the future. Gift certificates may be purchased in minimum increments of 1% of the cost of tuition. Certificates must be held for a minimum of one year before they can be applied to an account. Tuition Gift Certificates make a great gift for grandchildren or new babies. Parents can redeem the certificates any time one year after purchase. Some participants have purchased tuition for middle and high school years while their children are still infants, knowing that they will be prepared later in life when their expenses might be greater. For an application form and more information on Tuition Gift Certificates please call (616) 820-2805.