Y For All: Frequently Asked Questions

Anyone is eligible to apply, however, not everyone who applies may qualify to receive financial assistance. Whether you qualify for a financial assistance discount or not will depend on a combination of your household size, income, housing expenses, and childcare expenses.

The Y For All process for financial assistance is different from our old process in several important ways.  

• First, our new process for providing financial assistance is based on Washington State-specific poverty guidelines and income levels, not the Federal Poverty Guidelines. By using more local factors and statistics, we’re able to more effectively and appropriately distribute financial assistance. We’re also taking into consideration childcare expenses and housing costs, as these fees also play into a family’s ability to pay for our programs. 
• Second, we will not ask you to produce financial documentation with your application. You will be audited for these documents at some point in the year following your application, but gone are the days of you needing to bring sensitive financial documents to the Y. 
• Finally, we’re streamlining the process of applying so that you can get right to trying out the Y. After completing the Y for All application form, you will get two weeks of access to the Y while our team processes your application. 

Note: You will not be assigned a scan card during your two-week membership and will need to check in with our Welcome Center staff each visit. 

You should expect a reach out from the Y once a year where you’ll be asked to provide financial verification for your household size, income, housing expenses, and childcare expenses. People will be selected for the audit at random. If you are audited and it is discovered that you lied on your form, your financial assistance will be terminated immediately, and you will not be able to reapply for FA for one year. 

Depending on the household size, income, housing expenses, and childcare expenses information you submit, you may receive discounts on Y programs of 15%, 30%, or 50%. You may also not qualify for financial assistance in which case you’ll need to pay the full price for the program you’re interested in.

No! If it is determined that you qualify for a discount on membership fees, the joining fee will be waived. 

If you do not qualify for financial assistance, you will need to pay the joining fee. 

Yes. When you complete the form, please select all the Y services/locations you’re interested in.  

If you qualify for financial assistance, the discount you receive will be applied to all programs at the Y you participate in as long as you have an active membership. For example, if you applied for financial assistance on Membership at Hoag Road and received a 15% discount, you would receive a 15% discount on childcare fees, swim lesson registration fees, etc.

If you or your family is awarded a Y for All discount, you must accept/decline the offered discount within 3 months before needing to reapply. You’ll only have access to the Y during the two weeks of your Y for All membership – there are no extensions to the two-week membership.

For example, if you were to decide two months after your two-week trial ends that you want to start a membership with the discount you’ve received, you would be able to do so. You’ll just need to bring in the email with the % discount you were offered. However, If you were to decide 4 months after your two-week trial ends, you would need to reapply.

No. If you currently receive a discount on your membership, it will continue to be applied to your account. If you are worried your current discount is not enough for the new rates, or if your circumstances have changed, we encourage you to reapply for a Y for All discount here.

We’ll be transitioning the old discounts over time to the new program, so when your financial assistance comes up for renewal, you’ll be asked to complete the new form.

Yes, you are still able to visit other Ys as part of your membership.

Part of our mission is to help our community be healthier in mind, body, and spirit, so providing financial assistance helps a larger portion of our community reach this goal. We have various memorial funds that support Financial Assistance as well, such as the Don Gerrior Memorial Fund, which supports scholarships for swim lessons. 

We’ve been able to provide financial assistance to our childcare families in part through funds received from United Way and the Skagit Community Foundation.  

We recently launched a business sponsorship program for local businesses to support the Y, and supporting Y for All is a big piece of this. If your business is interested in supporting the Y, please visit our Community Partnerships page. 

Individual donors can support Y for All by donating on our Give Page.

Please visit our Community Partners page to complete the interest form and a member of our team will be in touch.