Acadiana has 53 schools approved to take LA GATOR. Most of them are parish Catholic schools.
From Our Lady of Fatima on Johnston Street to Vermilion Catholic in Abbeville, the eight parishes of the Diocese of Lafayette carry one of the densest Catholic school networks in Louisiana. The state account pays $5,243 to $15,253 a year toward tuition at any of them. We line up the state approval list, the STO list and the federal school records so you can see where the money works.
LA GATOR for 2026-27
Paid in quarterly deposits to an Odyssey account. Statewide 17,848 students applied for 2026-27 and the Legislature held funding at $43.5 million, so a new applicant outside the priority groups should plan for the waitlist. How the line is ordered →
53 approved schools and 16,188 K-12 students, with Lafayette Parish holding 24 of them
On the state's 2025-26 list, Lafayette Parish has the fourth-largest count of BESE-approved nonpublic schools of any Louisiana parish. Around it sit the prairie towns of St. Landry, Evangeline, Acadia and Vermilion, and the Bayou Teche corridor through Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary, each with its own parish Catholic school and, in most towns, a Christian academy.
K-12 enrollment as reported on the state's 2025-26 BESE approval list. 3 more schools appear in the federal survey but not on the approval list; they are in the directory so you can see that the account cannot pay their tuition.
31 Catholic schools educate 12,612 of the region's 16,188 approved-school students
That is roughly 78% of K-12 enrollment at approved schools in the eight parishes. Most are parish elementary schools running pre-K through grade 8, and the biggest of them, Our Lady of Fatima School, Cathedral Carmel School and St. Pius Elementary School, each reported more than 600 K-12 students to the state.
The Lafayette pattern is a parish school through 8th grade and then a move to one of the Catholic high schools: St. Thomas More Catholic High School and Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette, Notre Dame High School in Crowley, or Catholic High School in New Iberia. Outside the city, several parish schools simply run through grade 12.
All 31 Catholic schools → The 8th-grade move
Only 8 of Lafayette Parish's 24 approved schools were on the 2024-25 STO list
A Tuition Donation Credit scholarship can stack on top of LA GATOR for a family at or under 250% of the poverty line, but only at a school that takes STO students. Outside Lafayette Parish the list is broad: 21 of the 29 approved schools in the other seven parishes were on it. Inside the parish, 8 of the largest campuses were not, including St. Thomas More Catholic High School, Our Lady of Fatima School, Cathedral Carmel School, St. Pius Elementary School.
On the 2024-25 STO list in Lafayette Parish
Carencro Catholic Elementary School, Episcopal School of Acadiana (Lafayette lower campus), Gethsemane Christian Academy, Holy Family Catholic School, John Paul the Great Academy, Lafayette Christian Academy, Teurlings Catholic High School, Westminster Christian Academy (Lafayette).
What it means for a family
If you qualify for the $7,626 award and need a second layer, a school on the list can take it and one off the list may not. Participation is decided year by year, so ask the office about 2026-27.
UL Lafayette and South Louisiana Community College are part of the plan
UL Lafayette's high school dual enrollment program charged $200 for a three-credit face-to-face course in 2025-26, and South Louisiana Community College has a campus in each of the eight parishes this site covers. For a home-based student, college courses bought through the Odyssey marketplace from a registered provider are an approved LA GATOR expense.
For a student enrolled full time at a private high school, the account pays that school's tuition and required fees, so the questions are different: does the school build college credit into its program, and is any of it billed as a required fee?
Dual enrollment, step by step →What Acadiana parents ask us first
Do the Catholic schools in Lafayette take LA GATOR?
All 31 Catholic schools in our directory are on the 2025-26 BESE-approved list, which is the condition for receiving LA GATOR tuition. That includes the Diocese of Lafayette parish schools, the Catholic high schools, the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau and John Paul the Great Academy. Each school still registers in Odyssey every year, so ask the office whether it is set up for 2026-27.
How far does the award go at a parish school?
It depends on the school and on whether you pay the parishioner rate. Louisiana does not collect tuition, so we do not publish it. Ask each school for its registered-parishioner rate, its non-parishioner rate and its fee list, then set them against $5,243 or $7,626.
Is Morgan City part of the Diocese of Lafayette?
No. The diocese covers the eight civil parishes on this site with one exception: Morgan City, in St. Mary Parish, belongs to the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. Central Catholic School in Morgan City is in our directory because it sits in St. Mary Parish, but its diocesan office is in Houma-Thibodaux.
We missed the March window. What now?
The 2026-27 window ran March 1 to March 16, 2026. An unfunded new applicant stays on the waitlist and can be awarded if money frees up. In the meantime, apply for an STO scholarship at a participating school and ask the school about its own aid and parish assistance.
Can a homeschooling family in Acadiana use the account?
Yes, for purchases from registered providers in the Odyssey marketplace: curriculum, online courses, tutoring, therapy, testing and college courses. A family registered with the state as a BESE-approved home study program, or as a nonpublic school not seeking approval, cannot hold the account at the same time. Settle that question with the program line before you apply.
Families arrive here with an award in hand
21 of the 53 approved schools in these parishes hold non-accredited approval, several of them approved since 2022, which shows how a church school or a small academy can get on the list. If you run one, families want three things from you: the all-in price, the fee list and whether there is a seat in their child's grade.
How to work with us
Find out what your child's account would pay in Acadiana
Answer five quick questions. A local advisor calls back with your likely award, the approved schools near you, and how to cover any balance.