What is BVCA F.I.R.S.T?
It is BVCA Financial Incentive to Reduce Student Tuitions. The program utilizes Scrip - a term that means "substitute money". When you purchase scrip, you're purchasing negotiable gift certificates and prepaid cards that are used just like cash. You can use scrip to purchase everyday expenses like food, clothing, and other essentials, and with every purchase, you earn tuition credits and revenue for BVCA.

How BVCA F.I.R.S.T. generates revenue for you
The Great Lakes Scrip Center acts on behalf of churches, schools and other non-profit organizations to purchase large amounts of scrip from grocery stores, department stores, and other retailers. Because the scrip is purchased with cash up front, the participating retailers offer a substantial discount. Our organization buys the scrip from Great Lakes Scrip Center at a discount, and re-sells the certificates to families like yours for full face value. The discount - from two to seventeen percent or more - is then split with eighty percent going toward reducing your tuition and twenty percent going to BVCA's general fund after the program costs are covered.

How to Get Started
1. Each participant must complete and return a BVCA F.I.R.S.T. Enrollment Form. This form provides BVCA with critical information necessary to maintain your records on our tuition tracking software. It also designates who should receive tuition credits from your purchases and is our record that you have read and agreed to important program rules and guidelines. Friends and family members who choose to participate in this program to help you earn tuition credits must fill out a separate enrollment form. You may obtain one from the school office or download it here.
Enrollment Form

2. Fill out a BVCA F.I.R.S.T. Order Form and submit it by Friday of each week along with a check made payable to BVCA FIRST. You may send the order to school in your child's backpack or deliver it to the school office personally. Please take care when sending cash by securing it in an envelope. The personal information on the order form must be filled out completely and legibly in order for your order to be processed. Incomplete forms, illegible orders, or incorrect payment will delay the processing of your scrip order. You may obtain an order form from the BVCA F.I.R.S.T. Drop Off Box outside the school office or download it here.
Scrip Order Form

3. Pick up your BVCA F.I.R.S.T. scrip in the school office a week later on Friday from 2:30-3:00pm. Think of Friday as BVCA F.I.R.S.T scrip day. You put in this week's order in the morning and receive last week's order in the afternoon. If you checked backpack delivery on your order form your scrip will be delivered in your child's backpack on Fridays. (Please note that BVCA accepts no responsibility for scrip delivered in this manner.)

4. Check your BVCA F.I.R.S.T. order immediately to verify its accuracy. In the unlikely event that you find a discrepancy, contact Jill Nagle (413) 526-9958 within 2 days.

Questions?
Jill Nagle is the BVCA F.I.R.S.T. coordinator/administrator, you may reach Jill via email at bvafirst@charter.net