New house will provide tuition assistance

Tim Siebert, president and CEO of the private Christian school that serves pre-kindergarten through high-school-age students, expects that New Covenant will award more than $123,000 in tuition assistance this school year to families that can’t afford the $3,865 to $4,330 it costs for a child to attend.

The school’s goal is to net at least $100,000 for the tuition assistance program from the sale of the house, now under construction at 5825 S. Brightwater Trail and on Rivercut Golf Course. The house is New Covenant’s most ambitious fund-raising effort to date.

“This is just a tremendous opportunity for New Covenant Academy,” Siebert said.

The 5,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, three-bathroom house is expected to sell for around $500,000.

“We’re real excited about it,” said Glenda Scott, institutional advancement officer at New Covenant Academy, 3304 S. Cox Road.

“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Scott added.

New Covenant has enrollment of 377 and helps with tuition for 47 families.

The school broke ground on the house Sept. 29.

New Covenant Academy purchased the land for $89,000 with a loan from Empire Bank, but most of the labor and materials, Siebert said, will either be donated or made available to the school at a discount.

Tony and Penny Brewer, owners of Corner Cottages Inc., are providing free contractor services for the project. Tony Brewer is a member of the New Covenant Academy Board of Directors, and the Brewers’ children, ages 13 and 16, attend the school.

Brewer said he was excited about the home-building idea when Siebert pitched it to him at the end of last school year.

“It’s a fairly significant task for me to accomplish,” he said of donating the contracting work. “But I’m doing it because I believe in the school, and there are a lot of kids that depend on this money to be able to go there.”

Aaron Johnson Top Soil and Excavating Inc. is providing its service free, while Rost Ready Mix Inc. is selling the school discounted concrete.

Carol Jones Realtors is waiving sales commission for the house, which will be finished before June so it can be showcased in the Home Builders’ Association Parade of Homes.

Gay Bates receives the assistance for her kindergartener and first-grader. Bates had to stop working after having a baby this year, and tuition was a burden with only her husband’s income.

“It’s easier with the tuition assistance,” Bates said, “and I just really believe in Christian education.”