Scholarship Opportunties

Luker-Meyer Scholarship

For St. Joseph School Students

In honor of Dr. and Mrs. Luker’s parents, Norman, Shirley, Merlin, and Lois, this annual scholarship fund of $25,000.00 will provide up to 50% scholarships for children from our parish. The purpose of the Luker-Meyer Scholarships is to help parish families with children to have the opportunity of a Catholic education.

The scholarship is intended to follow the individual child through their time at St. Joseph School. The scholarship is renewable as long as the child continues to demonstrate satisfactory academic performance and the family qualifies through FACTS and fulfills the requirements outlined below.

Families must be practicing Catholics, active members at Saint Joseph Church and fulfill the need qualification. To demonstrate need, families must first complete the FACTS process. Families must also complete the Tuition Parishioner Discount agreement.

Recipients are required to join Msgr. Harris and Dr. and Mrs. Luker for a beginning of school year luncheon.

As the scholarship follows each individual child, families must apply for each child they are seeking the scholarship for. Families with students in kindergarten (5k) through sixth grade may apply.

Scholarship recipients will be announced at the school Mass on Friday, March 28. Recipients and immediate family members will be invited to a reception immediately after Mass, at the Ministries & Administration Building, to meet the Lukers.

Click on the button below for more information and to apply:

Online Application

Paper Application

Submissions will NOT be accepted without FACTS Assistance Information

Ranson-Able
Scholarship

For St. Joseph School Students

In memory of William (Bill) F. Ranson III, Ph.D., this annual scholarship fund will provide 50% scholarships to qualified St. Joseph Catholic School for Catholic students, 4K through 6th grade. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide families with limited economic means the opportunity of a Catholic education.

Bill Ranson was a Professor of Mechanical Engineering with a 37-year career in teaching and research at Auburn University and the University of South Carolina. He was an innovator in digital image correlation, and he was a genuinely kind, generous, humble, and principled man.

Bill deeply valued education, and an early Catholic education in particular, as a foundation for the development of not just academic strengths, but moral and ethical values. As a convert to Catholicism later in life, and as a student who had to work multiple jobs to put himself through college and graduate school, he knew financial difficulties and was well aware of the hardships students and families endure in order to obtain an education.

Qualifications: This is a scholarship for the 2025-2026 academic year. Applicants may be students 4K through 6th grade. Applicants may apply yearly for this scholarship, as receiving the scholarship in one year does not preclude receiving it another year. Applicants must be from homes where the child(ren) attend St. Joseph School. Applicants must complete the FACTS process and demonstrate need via FACTS. Families must be actively practicing Catholics. Families must be registered and regularly contributing parishioners of St. Joseph parish.

Applications are due, March 10, 2025. Applications can be completed online or submitted in hardcopy by the deadline. Applications submitted in paper should be addressed to the:

Ranson-Able Scholarship

3512 Devine Street,

Columbia SC 29205.

If a family is applying for multiple children, one application needs to be completed for each child. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Scholarship decisions will be communicated to recipients by March 14, 2025. For more information, please contact Adrienne Carroll, Business Manager at adrienne@stjosephcolumbia.org.

Online Application

Paper Application

Submissions will NOT be accepted without FACTS Assistance Information

Victor S. Raj, MD Scholarship

For St. Joseph School and Cardinal Newman School Students 4th-12th grade

This scholarship is NOT available for the 2025-2026 academic year.

This scholarship was established to honor the memory of Victor S. Raj, MD. Each year a full tuition scholarship will be awarded to a student who exemplifies the values Dr. Raj lived by. The purpose of the Victor S. Raj, MD Scholarship is to help Saint Joseph parish families with limited economic means provide their children with the opportunity of a Catholic education.

Victor S. Raj was born on July 18, 1974, in Bourges, France. He grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania and attended Cathedral Preparatory High School. He received his bachelor and master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University and his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine. He completed his Anesthesia residency and Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. He was also Board Certified in Anesthesia and Transesophageal Echo Cardiography. After his training, he cared for patients in the Pittsburgh area for 15 years as an anesthesiologist. Dr. Raj was loved by many for his gentle spirit, inquisitive mind, compassion, and care of others. Dr. Raj truly strived to make the world better.

This scholarship is intended for students entering 4th grade-12th grade at either Saint Joseph or Cardinal Newman. The scholarship is limited to the cost of tuition. Payment of the scholarship will be given directly to Saint Joseph and/or Cardinal Newman for the student. To be considered for the scholarship applicants must be enrolled at St. Joseph or Cardinal Newman and demonstrate a significant commitment to their faith life.