Lottery Process

Elysian Charter School’s Lottery Policy for K-8 Student Admissions

Elysian Charter School holds a public lottery on a predetermined day each January at 1460 Garden Street, Hoboken for admission for that upcoming school year beginning in September.

Lottery Procedure

  • All families MUST submit a lottery application form to be included in the lottery by the deadline. 
  • All Weighted Lottery Applicants must also provide proof of income by the deadline date.  
  • Applications can be found here, and can be filled out online.  All applications received prior to the deadline date will be eligible for participation in the admissions lottery.
  • Families who are applying for more than one child must enter an application for each child for their respective grade.
  • The lottery drawing will take place at 1460 Garden Street on the designated day and time in January.  More details will be provided on our website prior to the date. 
  • Once you submit your application, a lottery number will be assigned to you on the receipt.  You will also receive an additional confirmation email.
  • Lottery Notification:  After the lottery, the results will be posted on our website, using your assigned number.
  • Applicant’s whose names have been selected during the lottery for the available openings in each respective grade, will be notified within 4 days. If you do not receive notification within 4 days, you may look on our website, using your assigned number, to find your placement on the waitlist.
  • Once you have been notified of an opening in our school, you have 48 hours to accept or decline a spot. If there is no response or you decline, we will move to the next child on our wait list.
  • Once all available openings in each grade have been filled, a wait list will be created.  If a spot is declined in any specific grade, the spot will be offered to the next person on that grade’s waitlist. Please note that siblings of current students have preference.
  • The lottery and waitlist remains “in effect or active” from the first day of the summer vacation until the last day of the academic school year. The wait list will only be used for the school year drawn; an applicant who is on the list and not accepted, must reapply and re-enter the lottery for the following school year.

Confirmation of Application

  • Once the application is received and reviewed by the school office, you will be sent a confirmation email.  Please make sure that your child’s requested grade and residency information is correct in the email. If there are any errors, please contact enrollment2025@ecsnj.org immediately.  Changes or corrections must be submitted to the enrollment coordinator by the application submission deadline.
  • IT IS THE APPLICANT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO NOTIFY ELYSIAN IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE CONFIRMATION EMAIL at enrollment2025@ecsnj.org or call  201-876-0102 x 101.

Lottery Preference

In accordance with New Jersey Law, Elysian Charter gives preference to applicants in the following order:

  1. Siblings of students currently enrolled.
  2. In-district applicants (Hoboken) – proof of residency is required.
  3. Out-of-district applicants – students accepted only after Hoboken waitlist is exhausted.

Weighted Lottery

Elysian offers a weighted lottery to those applicants who qualify. A weighted lottery allows low-income families to enter their child’s name three times into the lottery, effectively tripling their chances of being selected. If you believe you qualify, you must:

  1. Indicate on the application that you are applying for the Weighted Lottery.
  2. Indicate what type of assistance you are currently receiving.
  3. You will need to provide proof of the assistance to the Enrollment Coordinator prior to the lottery application deadline date. All proof is confidential and can be emailed to enrollment2025@ecsnj.org.