Church Scholarship Promise

The Church Scholarship Promise (CSP) program allows local churches to develop unique financial partnerships with Covenant College to benefit students from their congregations.

All church giving to Covenant’s annual fund, the Covenant Fund, benefits students. This fund supports student scholarships, faculty salaries, student clubs, academic departments, athletic programs, special programs, and other ongoing operational costs. The Covenant Fund helps keep the total cost of tuition down. In the 2024-2025 academic year, 202 churches participated in the CSP program, giving a total of $659,778 to the Covenant Fund. This enabled 255 students to receive CSP scholarship funds which totaled $1,278,872.

Churches give to the Covenant Fund as a means of partnering with the college to prepare young Christians—through a rigorous and biblically informed academic and co-curricular program—for lives committed to the person of Christ, to the truths of His scripture, and to service in His kingdom in a broad array of callings.

Any church that gives to the Covenant Fund at the rate of at least $10 per communicant member qualifies all current and future students who are members from its congregation for a Church Scholarship Promise grant of 12.8% of full-time tuition. Students will continue to receive a CSP grant at this level throughout their enrollment at Covenant as long as their church continues to give to Covenant at the same level.

How the Program Works

Churches must make unrestricted gifts to the Covenant Fund at the $10 per communicant member level within the course of a calendar year (by December 31) for their students to be eligible for the CSP grant in the following academic year. There is no limit on the number of students from a congregation who may receive a CSP grant. Churches may give in a variety of ways as explained here.

1. The level at which students from your church qualify for CSP grants for the 2023-2024 academic year is determined by the total Covenant Fund gifts given by December 31, 2022 and divided by membership. Updated membership numbers are collected every other year. Church eligibility is evaluated annually, and students’ awards will be adjusted accordingly.

2. Churches that give at the $10 per member level qualify their students for a grant equal to 12.8% of full-time tuition. Giving at the $20 per member level qualifies students for 12.8% of full-time tuition plus $500, the $30 per member level qualifies students for 12.8% of full-time tuition plus $1,000, and the $40 per member level qualifies students for 12.8% of full-time tuition plus $1,500.

   Fall 2024 - Spring 2025 grant awards:
   $10/member = $5,222
   $20/member = $5,722
   $30/member = $6,222
   $40/member = $6,722

3. Gifts given by individuals directly to the college do not count toward a church’s giving total. However, gifts given by individuals through their local church to the Covenant Fund do count toward that church’s giving total.

4. Children of overseas missionaries may receive a grant equal to 12.8% of full-time tuition if any church on their list of current supporting churches participates in the CSP program.

5. Dependent children of teaching elders who serve as full-time senior, associate, or assistant pastors at churches that participate in the CSP program for five or more consecutive years will receive a financial aid package worth at least 50% of tuition. This financial aid package includes scholarship and grant funds from all sources. Applicants must meet the minimum admission requirements.

Qualifications

1. Students must be a member in good standing of the qualifying church by December 31 of the year upon which eligibility is based.

2. Students must meet all financial aid and admissions deadlines, and they must submit a Covenant College application for aid form each year. Additional financial aid forms are needed to apply for other scholarship/grant programs. This information may be obtained at our Financial Aid page or by contacting the Financial Aid Office at 706.419.1126.

3. Students must be in good academic standing.

4. Students who join a church in the Chattanooga area after enrolling at Covenant will have their CSP eligibility based on the Covenant Fund giving of the church in which they had membership before joining a local church. Exceptions are made for students whose families have moved and established residency in the Chattanooga area.