Welcome!

This is the page to complete in order to apply for a campership to a camp or event hosted by Scouting America Northeast Illinois Council (NEIC).
We want to help your Scout participate in Scouting. The NEIC will not turn any youth away from one of its camps or events due to an inability to pay.
If you have any questions about the award process or if you need to amend your responses after you've submitted your scholarship or fellowship application, contact Debi Geiger, the Camping and Program Assistant, at Debi.Geiger@scouting.org.

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) must be completed to apply.

Northeast Illinois Council (NEIC) wants to ensure all Scouts can attend one of our summer camp programs.  There are a number of resources available to provide support to families to assist in paying their summer camp fees.

• Your unit (e.g., your pack or troop) may provide support. If you are comfortable doing so, you could check with one of your unit leaders (e.g., Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Committee Chair, or Treasurer) to ask whether the unit will provide any support, but we do not require you to do so.

• Additionally, there are ways for Scouts to earn money for this purpose. Nearly all units hold fundraising events during the Scout year, in which Scouts sell a product such as popcorn or sell tickets to a pancake breakfast or spaghetti dinner. Sometimes, Scouts can earn awards through those sales, which they can use to pay Scouting expenses.

• Even if your unit does not participate in the NEIC’s annual fall popcorn sale, it is possible for your Scout or Scouts to sell popcorn on their own. Contact Rebecca Minsley at Rebecca.Minsley@scouting.org for more information on this opportunity. 

• Most importantly, the NEIC will provide camperships to those families who continue to need financial support. The NEIC will not turn any youth away due to an inability to pay.

When will I hear back on my application?
NEIC’s goal is to respond within 10 days of receiving the completed application. If there is a surge of applications or specific personnel are absent at key times, it may take longer. NEIC wants to process these applications quickly and distribute award letters on a timely basis.

What if I have more than one Scout in the family, or my Scout wants to attend camp for two weeks?
These situations require the following:

• If your child wants to attend two weeks of camp or two different NEIC Scouting events, submit one application for each week or event.
• If you have two or more Scouts attending NEIC Scouting events, complete an application for each Scout (and each week/event if applicable).

The reason that NEIC needs you to submit separate applications for different family members or different events or weeks of camp is that it is the only way that the approved amounts can be properly applied online to each Scout, Event, and Week as a "Council Program" payment. We apologize for the repetition that is involved.

Confidentiality

We value your privacy, so only a limited number of NEIC staff members will have access to the detailed information you provide. These staff members will use all reasonable efforts to avoid disclosure of any of your personally identifiable information, except (i) as described in the previous paragraph and (ii) as necessary to assure that you receive such financial assistance.

We may contact a leader of your unit to ascertain or confirm what financial assistance, if any, your unit may provide to its families. Such contact may require disclosing to that leader that you have sought financial assistance from the council, but we will not disclose any of your financial information to that leader. We will share the “approved amount” with your Unit leadership if they have completed the registration or plan to cover some of the expenses for the Scout.
 

Who registers my Scout(s) for camp?

• Cub Scouts: Parents can register their Cub Scouts for Cub Scout Day Camp and Family Adventure Camp (at MSR). NOTE: If your Pack/Den has offered to pay part of your Scout's fee, check to see if they want to complete the online registration instead (it makes it easier for them to pay their amount).
• MSR Summer Camp (Scouts BSA and Venturing Crew members): Contact your unit leader or camp coordinator to register.  Families cannot complete these registrations. Contact Debi if your Scout wants to attend a different week than their Unit as an individual (Provisional) Scout.
• NYLT: National Youth Leadership Training participants must be approved by their Scoutmaster or Crew Advisor, so contact them to register.  They will have the required password or will complete the registration for your Scout.

Scholarship Application Process

Scholarship applications are approved in batches on a rolling basis, not individually. Do not wait to apply. Please allow ten days from the date of submission to be contacted by the council. If there is a surge of applications or specific personnel are absent at key times, it may take longer, but NEIC wants to process these applications quickly.

• Cub Scouts: Parents (or online Registration Contacts) will be notified of the scholarship payment amount for each scout on the registration.
• Scouts BSA/ Venturing Youth: Registration Contacts will be notified of the approved amounts if they are responsible for collecting fees.  If the Scout is not registered online yet, please ask your Unit's Registration Contact (person completing the online registration) to register your Scout as quickly as possible after (or before) being informed of the approved scholarship amount.  

Approved scholarship amounts are uploaded into Black Pug/247 Scouting. Debi then applies the payment to each Scout's online registration. Do not wait to register. Funds can only be applied in the online system after the Scout is registered online (so there is a place to apply the funds).

Contact Debi Geiger if you or your unit has questions about registering online without paying anything at the same time.

Thank you for your patience as we near the summer camp busy season.

Registration Balance: The event balance must be paid promptly.  Some Unit Leaders who complete one Registration for the whole Pack, Troop, or Crew might set up the "Parent Portal" for families to make online payments within their registration; contact them with questions. Families paying the balance themselves can mail or bring it to the council office in Vernon Hills. Contact Debi with payment questions.

Find out if:

• Your Scout has money in a "Unit Account" from fundraising that can be used to pay some or all of their event fee balance. Ask your treasurer.
• Your Unit has a PayPal account to collect payments
• Your Unit can/will pay fees from your Scout's Fundraising Account (even Provisional Scouts can use theirs)
• Your Unit will require payment by check or cash to your Registration Contact or Unit Treasurer (make checks payable to your Unit)
• Your Unit will activate the "Parent Portal" within their event registration (where your Scout is registered) so your family can make payments online.  Tell them to contact Debi if they have questions about this option.