Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF)

St. Joseph Catholic School

Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) Program through the SC Department of Education

The ESTF program, as it was initially written, began this current school year, for any student who transferred from a public school system into a private school, and met the income requirements, was eligible for a $6,000 scholarship to be used on a variety of educational services that included private school tuition. In September of 2024, the SC Supreme Court deemed the program unconstitutional and private schools were no longer allowed to be recipients of ESTF funds.

Currently, they are in the process of rewriting the bill and revamping the entire program. Their HOPE is that the decision made in September of 2024, will be overturned and private schools will be allowed to receive those funds, as well as the program opened to all families who meet the income requirement regardless of what type of school they attended the prior year.

Applications for ESTF funds for the 2025 – 2026 school year are currently open and will remain open until March 15, 2025. To qualify in the 2025 – 2026 school year, the student must:

  • Be a resident of South Carolina AND
  • Have attended a SC public school during the 2024 – 2025 school year OR will be turning five on or before September 1, 2025, AND
  • Have a household income that does not exceed 300% of the federal poverty guidelines OR be a confirmed Medicaid recipient (by individual student), AND
  • Not attend a public school in their resident school district for the 2025 – 2026 school year.

We have received guidance asking that our families (ONLY THOSE WHO MEET THE INCOME REQUIREMENTS BELOW), go ahead and apply for the scholarship for the 2025 – 2026 school year before the application period closes on March 15, 2025. The program will be revised to include all students whose family meets the income requirements below regardless of what school they attended the year prior. If your family meets the income requirements in the chart below, please complete the application, which can be found here, by March 15, 2025.

The application does include a question of what type of school the student attended for the 2024 – 2025 school year. We have been instructed to have you choose “Other.” When adding school of choice, please put down St. Joseph Catholic School, Columbia, as the name of the school. There is no charge to complete this process, and also, there is no guarantee, at this time, that any of our families will be eligible. However, we do not want to miss out on meeting the deadline should the program be revised (which we are being told has a very strong possibility of happening).