For decades, the conversation about Catholic school in San Antonio started with the same question: can we afford it? Texas's Education Freedom Accounts have changed that conversation faster than almost anything else in the program's first year. Here is what is different now, and what a family looking at a parish school or a Catholic high school should do before the next application window.
Every campus takes TEFA
The Archdiocese of San Antonio runs 35 Catholic school campuses serving about 9,000 students, with an average student-teacher ratio of about 15 to 1. In March 2026, the Archdiocese's recruitment and outreach manager told Axios San Antonio that all of them participate in the voucher program. You can see which campuses appear in the state's participating-school finder, with the date we checked, in our Catholic schools directory.
That matters because a TEFA account can only be spent at a participating school. In San Antonio, a family choosing Catholic school doesn't have to worry about whether its parish school has signed up.
What the account covers
The 2026-27 award is $10,474 for a student at a participating private school. Axios reported that the award was expected to cover full tuition for most K-8 students at Archdiocese schools, and most but not all of it at the high school level.
Tuition isn't the only cost the account can pay. The state's list of approved uses includes required fees, textbooks and instructional materials, required uniforms and meals provided by a private school. At a parish elementary school where tuition is below the award, the remainder can often go toward those fees, or roll over to the next year while the child stays in the program.
High school is different. Central Catholic, Antonian College Preparatory, Incarnate Word, Providence, St. Anthony Catholic and St. John Paul II all appear in the state finder, but the award is the same at every grade, so most families will have a balance. That's where school-based aid and any rollover from earlier years come in.
Hope for the Future now has a different job
Hope for the Future is the Archdiocese's tuition assistance fund. Its TEFA FAQ says the fund doesn't cover full tuition but helps keep Catholic schools affordable, and that it is now reserved for families who do not receive TEFA.
That is an important shift. A family that was waitlisted or not awarded is now the fund's main focus. The FAQ says the application opened December 1, with award notifications in the spring. A family that hopes to get TEFA next year but isn't sure should apply to both, because nobody knows yet how far the second year's money will stretch.
Seats are the new bottleneck
Money was the obstacle before. Now it can be space. The Archdiocese told Axios it wasn't going to be able to accept every family with a voucher. It said it had no archdiocese-wide cap, but each campus makes its own admissions decisions based on classroom space and staffing, and some grades filled earlier than usual.
Two practical points follow from that. Apply to the school at the same time you apply for TEFA, because an award doesn't reserve a seat. And if your first-choice parish school is full in your child's grade, ask about nearby campuses. Our community pages list the Catholic schools in each part of the metro, from Central San Antonio to Castroville and the southwest counties.
Parish and sibling rates still apply
The Comptroller's tuition guidelines say a school can't charge a TEFA family a different tuition, and that general discounts, such as sibling, employee and parishioner rates, must continue to apply. If your parish offers a member rate, ask for it.
A checklist for 2027-28
- Join the state's interest list at educationfreedom.texas.gov. Second-year dates haven't been published.
- Have your federal tax return ready. Income that couldn't be confirmed was one of the most common reasons year-one applicants were found ineligible.
- If your child has an IEP from 2023-24 or later, make sure it's current with your district. An IEP on file with TEA raises the award.
- Apply to Hope for the Future if there's any chance you won't receive TEFA.
- Apply to the school early, and ask how it handles families who are awarded late.
- If you already have one child in the program, remember that siblings are placed first in year two.
The bigger picture
The Archdiocese described its goal as serving a more diverse range of families without losing its identity. For families who could never budget for Catholic school before, the cost conversation is now mostly about fees and high school, not elementary tuition. The questions that remain are timing and seats, and both reward planning early.
If you'd like help working out what your family qualifies for, including Hope for the Future and the federal scholarship tax credit coming in 2027, start the funding check. Our Catholic tuition guide covers the details.