The Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) program allows parents to access state funds allocated to their child/children and use those funds for their family’s specific educational needs. This $6,000 scholarship can be used for non-public school tuition, textbooks and other approved educational costs. The current program allows up to 5,000 students to receive the scholarship this year.
The current program has a short application window, and the deadline has passed. The short application time, the strict income requirements and other factors means that only 2,880 students were approved. Over 2,000 scholarships totaling more than $12 million dollars remain unclaimed. A Palmetto Promise Institute report said 79% of those denied were due to applications being submitted after the deadline.
The South Carolina legislature has an opportunity to remedy this situation and allow more families to fill the empty spots. Rep. Shannon Erickson, sponsor of the H. 5164, “ESTF Expansion,” proposed a proviso to the state budget to reopen the application until all scholarships are awarded. The House of Representatives has accepted this proviso, and it now needs to be adopted by the budget conference committee.