The Education Scholarship Trust Fund’s inaugural year saw 2,880 scholarships awarded to South Carolina students, with nearly 8,000 applications submitted to the state’s Dept. of Education (SCDE).

This school year has the strictest requirements because it is the pilot year, and only 36% of applicants were eligible. For 2024-2025, the SCDE required a student to: 

• be a resident of South Carolina 
• have attended a South Carolina public school during the previous school year, have not yet attained the age of five on or before Sept. 1 of the previous school year but have attained the age of five on or before Sept. 1 of the current school year, or have received a scholarship the previous school year 
• have a household income that does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty guidelines (FPG) 

Current homeschool and charter school students, and those already receiving funds from the Exceptional Needs Children’s Fund, were not eligible. Many families who applied missed the deadline, and Rep. Shannon Erickson has proposed to extend the application deadline into a rolling system so more families can be included. Nearly 10% of the applications were denied because household income was higher than the FPG. 

Fortunately, many of these families may become eligible over the next few years as the program will expand the percentage of the FPG to 300% in 2025-2026 and to 400% for 2026-2027.

The South Carolina Catholic Conference is overjoyed that thousands of students will have a customized and personalized education to meet their individual needs this coming school year.

We hope the General Assembly will make this program universal so all South Carolina families can participate. We will continue to work so that this wonderful opportunity can be shared around the state.