There are five questions which determine your eligibility to apply for a grant from the Fund for Vocations:
1
Have you already discerned the community you wish to enter, and been accepted by that community?
One of the requirements to apply to the Fund for Vocations will be a letter of acceptance from your prior/prioress or vocations director. (It’s fine if that letter indicates that your entrance is contingent on the elimination of your student loan obligations.) If you are only just now thinking about a religious vocation, please check back with us after you’ve actually discerned and been accepted to a specific community.
2
Do you and/or your institute fall within our geographical area of support?
To be eligible to apply for a grant from the Fund for Vocations, you must be either a citizen of the United States or Canada or your future religious institute must have some of its formation or apostolates in the United States and/or Canada and you will be either formed in North America and/or participate in the order’s North American apostolates.
3
Would we be able to administer a grant made to you?
Your student loans must be payable in US dollars. Additionally, the formators and/or superiors with whom we will interact to administer a grant, must be able to understand and be understood in English.
4
Will you be entering the kind of institutes we assist?
We only assist institutes of vowed religious life and societies of apostolic life. We will assist public associations of the faithful which are working to become one of those two forms of consecrated life. We do not assist secular institutes or private associations of lay faithful. Also, our grant programs no longer cover men headed for formation as diocesan priests. Finally, we limit our support to those orders and institutes that respect Catholic orthodoxy and demonstrate fidelity to the Magisterium. You can read more about that here.
5
Have you already entered formation with your institute?
If you haven’t and you won’t unless and until you receive a grant, you are eligible to apply assuming you meet the other four conditions. On the other hand, if you have entered, we assume you did so because someone already made a commitment (implicitly or explicitly) to pay your loans. To avoid abuse of our programs, we must individually review your situation to determine your eligibility if you have already entered.