MEFV Grant Eligibility

This page will help you to choose the grant program to which you should apply. Start at the top and read each description until you find the one that applies to your situtation.

Of course, the first basic assumption is that you have discerned or are discerning that God is calling you to a consecrated life of service to Him and His Church. (And we are very thankful that you have generously responded to that call.) If you're just roaming the web, looking for debt relief, we invite you to look elsewhere.

The second basic assumption is that the institute you desire to enter or the diocese you want to serve has a policy that will prevent an individual with student debt from continuing their formation at some point. The minimum point at which a policy must terminate formation is noted in each description.

The following descriptions refer to terms with specific meaning like Institute of Consecrated Life or Secular Institute. If you don't know what kind of institute you intend to enter, ask your vocation director.

• If you want to enter any form of consecrated life other than an Institute of Consecrated Life or a Society of Apostolic Life, or the diocesan priesthood, we regret that you are not eligible for any of our grant programs. In particular, Secular Institutes and Associations of Lay Faithful (public or private) are not covered by our grant programs.
• If you want to enter an Institute of Consecrated Life, apply for a St. Joseph grant. It must be the policy of the institute that individuals responsible for student debt may not enter the novitiate.
• If you want to enter a Society of Apostolic Life whose members make a public commitment to poverty, apply for a St. Joseph grant. It must be the policy of the institute that individuals responsible for student debt may not enter the novitiate or whatever state of formation is analogous to the novitiate.
• If you want to enter a Society of Apostolic Life whose members do not make a public commitment to poverty, but whose primary charism is to staff parishes with priests, apply for a St. John Vianney grant. It must be the policy of the institute that individuals responsible for student debt over a certain threshold (possibly zero) may not begin formation.
• If you want to enter major seminary to become a diocesan priest, apply for a St. John Vianney grant. It must be the policy of the diocese that individuals responsible for student debt over a certain threshold (possibly zero) may not begin major seminary formation.
• If you are still reading, we are working on designing a grant program to help men who are in formation for the diocesan or religious priesthood who will be overburdend by their debt once they are ordained. Please return occasionally to see if we have worked that out.

Prospective applicants should read all the pages available under the menu items "Grant Programs" and "For Applicants" to fully inform themselves about the requirements for application.