Frequently Asked Questions

Not every student’s academic scholarship is sponsored (although we wish this was the case). Students whose academic scholarship is unsponsored are covered by our unsponsored student fund, so that no family is expected to pay school fees.

Your sponsorship covers one student’s academic scholarship. This includes tuition, equipment, uniforms, transport, meals at school, and boarding for older students. It also contributes to the cost of maintaining facilities like computer labs and school grounds.

Your Community Service sponsorship covers one volunteer’s stipend. This stipend is used for accommodation and living expenses incurred while the volunteer gives their time as a teacher in a government school or throughout St Jude’s campuses.

Your Tertiary sponsorship covers one Beyond St Jude’s scholar’s stipend. This stipend is used for tuition and exam fees, accommodation and living expenses while the scholar pursues tertiary education.

Sole sponsorship covers the entirety of one student’s academic scholarship. Co-sponsorship covers half the cost of one student’s academic scholarship. Shared sponsorship covers a quarter of one scholarship.

St Jude’s asks sponsors to commit to at least 3 years of sponsorship in order to ensure stability for students and the school.

Importantly, St Jude’s requires that sponsors act in accordance with our Child Protection Policy. This means that sponsors must not share personal contact information with students and must only communicate through the Sponsor Relations team. Sponsors must notify the Sponsor Relations team in the event that a student, staff member or student’s family member contacts the sponsor in any other fashion.

You may write to the student whose scholarship you sponsor as often as you’d like.

When you begin your sponsorship, you’ll receive a detailed profile about the student whose scholarship you are sponsoring. Following this, you will receive three letters per year from the student, in addition to their school reports, annual school photo and news of any awards or special achievements throughout the year.

Yes, we love visitors! Our Visitors team can organise your visit to St Jude’s, including free accommodation for sponsors.

You can visit classes, enjoy lunch at school, tour the campuses, meet the student you support and even visit the student’s home.

You are welcome to send gifts and letters, although many sponsors prefer to purchase one of our Gift Packs to avoid postage fees and lengthy delivery times.

The easiest way to communicate with the student whose academic scholarship you sponsor is via email – our Sponsor Relations team will print your email for the student.

If you’d like to send a gift, please ensure that it is age appropriate. We suggest books, school equipment like backpacks and pencil cases, pens, pencils, sports equipment and activity books or novels.