NEW ESTF APPLICATION WINDOW OPEN
UPDATE: By a vote of 31-9 last Tuesday, February 11 the South Carolina Senate passed school choice legislation that would restore the payment of tuition and fees at private schools like ours. Additionally, the legislation would expand the scholarship amount to 90% of SC statewide per pupil spending. Next year, that would be around $7,700 (compared to the original $6,000).
The legislation also removes the eligibility requirement that students need to have been in public school last year (great news for us because that means all of our students are now eligible).
The legislation now goes to the SC House, where the first hearing has been scheduled for Committee next week. While we expect changes in the House, we do not expect the restoration of private school tuition and fees or the prior public enrollment eligibility criteria to be changed from the Senate bill (families previously granted the funds still won't be able to use the monies for the tuition, and should still go though the ESTF Family Rescue Fund).
This presents a moment of opportunity for our students. Any students in SC resident families whose incomes fall below 300% of the federal poverty level (HHS Chart here) will now be eligible for the program. Please remember the student participation cap for 2025-26 is currently set at 10,000 students – and that is likely to stay in the final legislation. The sooner you apply, the better your chances before the cap fills up.
On the first day of applications, SCDE received nearly a thousand applications. That means that these 10,000 scholarship spots this year will go FAST! Students should apply ASAP, even before the new legislation is finalized to have first dibs at the scholarship spots.
ACCESS THE 2025-26 FAMILY APPLICATION
The legislation also removes the eligibility requirement that students need to have been in public school last year (great news for us because that means all of our students are now eligible).
The legislation now goes to the SC House, where the first hearing has been scheduled for Committee next week. While we expect changes in the House, we do not expect the restoration of private school tuition and fees or the prior public enrollment eligibility criteria to be changed from the Senate bill (families previously granted the funds still won't be able to use the monies for the tuition, and should still go though the ESTF Family Rescue Fund).
This presents a moment of opportunity for our students. Any students in SC resident families whose incomes fall below 300% of the federal poverty level (HHS Chart here) will now be eligible for the program. Please remember the student participation cap for 2025-26 is currently set at 10,000 students – and that is likely to stay in the final legislation. The sooner you apply, the better your chances before the cap fills up.
On the first day of applications, SCDE received nearly a thousand applications. That means that these 10,000 scholarship spots this year will go FAST! Students should apply ASAP, even before the new legislation is finalized to have first dibs at the scholarship spots.
ACCESS THE 2025-26 FAMILY APPLICATION
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