Toonies Can
Make A Difference

Support struggling families who are hoping for a Catholic education

We believe that the life-changing mission of Catholic education should be made available to every Canadian family.

Unfortunately, a lack of public funding means that Catholic education remains inaccessible for many families. 

As a widowed single parent struggling to support my family, I could not possibly have afforded to pay full tuition. Support has been supplied with the utmost discretion – we have never been made to feel like charity cases, but, rather, as if we are valued parts of the school community.

- Parent, St. Bonaventure’s College, St. John’s, NL

Bridging the Gap

Unfortunately, there are still far more requests for tuition assistance than total amounts raised, meaning many families are still navigating the financial struggle of tuition alone. Our goal is to leave no family - no child - out of a Catholic school in Canada.

But here’s the hope – the mission of Canadian Catholic education spans across the entire country. If every person gave even a little, we’d have enough money to assist every struggling family afford tuition payments and attend a Catholic school.

Give A Tax Deductible
Donation Today

Help us shoulder the financial burden for struggling families 
so that no child will be left out of a Catholic School in Canada.

Our Story

In 2004, it was becoming abundantly clear that many families in provinces or territories without full public funding were struggling. Despite significant sacrifices made by families and incredible efforts made by Catholic schools to accommodate them, the number of families unable to attend Catholic schools because of financial restraints was still growing.

CCSTA had a dream that Catholic education would be made available to every Canadian family.

By 2006, the Toonies for Tuition Endowment Fund was created and campaigns were launched across the country to assist struggling families with tuition payments.

Since then, we’ve raised more than $1M to support families in choosing a Catholic school for their family. 

Over the past 3 years, this much needed financial assistance has made a difference to several of our low-income families. Many of our families are recent migrants and are struggling to keep up with the high cost of living in the Lower Mainland. Without the extra support from the CCSTA, these families would not be able to access a faith-based quality education that is provided by our Catholic schools.

-Principal St. Edmund’s Elementary, North Vancouver, BC

The Journey of Your Toonie

Donation received

Donations can be made online through our Canada helps account or by mailing a cheque. Donations go directly to our Endowment Fund.

Principals send in application for families in need

Principals in each school send in applications on behalf of each family in need of tuition assistance. The application includes a summary of the family’s current situation and how much they need.

Endowment committee

Consisting of four provincial members from provinces with full funding, as well as the CCSTA Executive Director, the committee reviews the total amount fundraised, carefully reads each request and discerns the allotment of the total amount raised.

CCSTA informs school

After the Endowment Committee has decided on the allocation of funds, CCSTA contacts each individual school to let them know the total amount donated to their school that year. Because there are always more funds requested than donated, each principal decides how the funds are distributed among the families in need of assistance. 

School shares life-changing news with families

This phone call is at the heart of the Toonies for Tuition Campaign – when a family receives the news from their school principal that they’ve received assistance with tuition.

There are students in the classrooms and hallways of Catholic schools in Canada whose lives are being changed because of your generosity to Toonies for Tuition.

How You Can Help?

Celebrate
National Toonies for
Tuition Day

Catholic School 
Fundraising
Guide

Parish Collections & Community Fundraising Resources

2024/2025 Social Media Graphics + Toonies Posters

Toonies For Tuition Trophy Challenge

In a bid to raise more funds for Toonies for Tuition, the Saskatchewan Catholic School Trustees created a trophy challenge for Catholic schools across Canada in 2011.

  1. Each year, a trophy is awarded to the individual school board or division in the fully-funded provinces that raises the most money per capita based on FTE enrolment.
  2. A second trophy is awarded to the province that raises the most money based on provincial FTE enrolment.
  3. Donations received from schools by May 15 are included in the challenge calculations, and the winners are announced each year at the CCSTA AGM/Convention in June.

Our 2024 School Board Winner was Prince Albert RCSSD, SK. 
The 2024 Provincial winner was Saskatchewan.

View past trophy winners

National Toonies for Tuition Day

Join Catholic education supporters from across Canada on April 30th to help make Catholic education a possibility for every Canadian family.

The decision to create and celebrate an annual Toonies Day was made by the CCSTA Board of Directors in February 2023. April 30th was chosen to honour Saint Marie of the Incarnation and ask for her intercession of our national fundraising efforts.

National Toonies Day Goals

Increase Toonies awareness and fundraising

Simplify and streamline fundraising efforts for schools, parishes and individuals

Strengthen the sense of unity in our
cross-Canada mission

About St. Marie of the Incarnation

St. Marie, a native of France, landed in Canada in 1639 and later, recalling her initial arrival in Quebec, “the New France”, recounted, “The first thing we did was to kiss the ground of the place to which we had come to fulfill our lives in the service of God and the Indigenous people.”

She went on to found an Ursuline convent in Quebec and there welcome, shelter and educate Indigenous and French girls in the local community. In addition, she eventually translated grammar books, dictionaries, catechisms and prayer books into four First Nation languages.

St. Marie died in Quebec on April 30th, 1672 and was canonized by Pope Francis in 2014.

For more updates, event reminders and ideas for celebrating Toonies Day, join our email list!