What Does the Step Up for Students Scholarship Cover?

The Step Up For Students scholarship covers private school tuition and required school fees, curriculum and instructional materials, part-time tutoring by certified teachers, and — for students with qualifying disabilities — specialized therapies and computer hardware. What your family can actually buy depends on which of the organization’s programs your child is on. Step Up For Students is Florida’s largest state-approved scholarship funding organization and currently serves more than 520,000 students across five scholarship programs and a transportation stipend.¹

Which Program Your Child Is On Decides What’s Covered

Coverage rules are not uniform across the scholarships. Before looking at any expense list, identify your program:²

The Florida Tax Credit (FTC) and Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO) are the private school scholarships. They pay tuition, fees, instructional materials, testing, and contracted services.
The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) is the broadest program. It covers private school tuition, therapies, instructional materials, tutoring, and technology hardware for students with qualifying disabilities.
The Personalized Education Program (PEP) is for home education students. It covers curriculum, instructional materials, part-time tutoring, part-time private enrollment, and testing, but not full-time private school tuition and not computer hardware.
The Hope Scholarship is available to students who have experienced bullying or certain safety incidents at a public school. The New Worlds Scholarship is a reading-focused award.
The Transportation Stipend is a flat $750 payment, described further below.

The rules for the three largest programs sit in Florida Statutes Section 1002.394 (Family Empowerment Scholarship) and Section 1002.395 (Florida Tax Credit Scholarship).³

Private School Tuition and Required Fees

If your child is on FTC, FES-EO, or FES-UA, the scholarship pays full-time tuition at a participating Florida private school. It also pays the school-required fees that come with enrollment:

Application and registration fees
Uniform pieces purchased through a school-required vendor
Book and technology fees
Standardized testing and graduation fees

PEP works differently. A PEP student can use funds for part-time enrollment at an eligible private school or for courses from approved online providers, but not for full-time private school tuition.⁴

Curriculum and Instructional Materials

Every scholarship program allows families to buy instructional materials. Eligible items include physical textbooks and workbooks, digital materials like eBooks and audiobooks, and complete curriculum packages for home education students.⁴ PEP and FES-UA families often buy specialized kits for subjects like science, art, or music when the kit supports a structured learning plan.

Digital resources count too: educational software subscriptions, online courses from approved providers, and in-home internet service at your Florida residential address. Everything purchased has to provide a clear educational benefit and be appropriate for the student’s age and ability.⁵

Tutoring and Contracted Services

Scholarship funds can pay for part-time tutoring by an individual who holds a valid Florida teaching certificate. That covers subject-specific instruction and general academic support. Families can also use funds for contracted services from a local public school or school district, and for services from a Choice Navigator.⁴

These tutoring options are available on FTC, FES-EO, FES-UA, and PEP. The provider must meet state background check standards, and sessions have to focus on educational content.

Specialized Therapies for Students With Unique Abilities

FES-UA is the program that pays for therapy. Under Section 1002.394, the eligible services include:³

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy
Speech-language pathology
Occupational therapy
Physical therapy
Listening and spoken language specialist services for children with hearing impairments who use implants or assistive hearing devices

Therapies have to be delivered by an approved provider: a practitioner licensed as a health care professional in Florida, or a provider approved by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities.³

To be on FES-UA in the first place, a child needs either an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a qualifying disability diagnosis from a physician or psychologist licensed in Florida (or in another U.S. state or territory). A 504 plan alone is not enough, though a student with a 504 plan can become eligible by submitting a separate diagnosis from a licensed physician or psychologist.⁶

If your child leaves FES-UA mid-year, the unspent funds go back to the state, but physical items like therapy equipment and devices already bought with prior-year funds do not have to be returned. A cash refund on any item originally paid for with scholarship funds has to go back into the student’s scholarship account.⁷

Computers and Educational Technology

Only FES-UA students can use scholarship funds to buy computer hardware. Eligible devices include laptops, desktops, tablets, printers, monitors, e-readers, and assistive technology.⁸ A device can be replaced once every two years, though earlier replacement is possible with pre-authorization from Step Up For Students.

PEP, FTC, and FES-EO students cannot buy laptops, tablets, or other computer hardware with scholarship funds.⁵ All programs can still cover educational software subscriptions and digital instructional materials. If a child on FTC or FES-EO attends a private school that charges a technology fee, that fee is covered as part of tuition and fees.

Any technology purchase has to deliver a direct educational benefit to the student. Items that are primarily recreational, shared across the whole family, or disconnected from the student’s learning goals don’t qualify.⁵

Transportation Stipend

Families with a K–8 student attending a public school outside their assigned zone can receive a one-time transportation stipend of $750 per household, per school year.⁹ It helps with fuel and vehicle maintenance costs. Only one stipend goes to each household per year no matter how many eligible students live there.

The student has to be enrolled full-time in a non-virtual Florida public school different from the assigned school. The stipend is separate from the private school and PEP scholarships; a family on one of those programs would not also receive it.⁹

What the Scholarship Will Not Pay For

Several categories are explicitly excluded:

Meals and food, including lunch fees, food on field trips, and meals at camp
Shoes and accessories, even when a uniform is required
Tickets to watch sporting events (team registration and PE equipment fees may qualify under FES-UA)
Overnight camp lodging
Computer hardware on PEP, FTC, and FES-EO

Anything not listed in the official purchasing guide needs pre-authorization before you buy it. Using scholarship money for non-educational purposes may violate Florida law.⁸

How Much the Scholarship Is Worth

Award amounts vary by county of residence and grade level. For 2025–26, FTC, FES-EO, and PEP awards generally run from about $7,400 to $12,000. A few county examples:¹⁰

Alachua County: $8,193 (K–3), $7,613 (4–8), $7,462 (9–12)
Broward County: $8,353 (K–3), $7,759 (4–8), $7,604 (9–12)
Collier County: $9,999 (K–3), $9,393 (4–8), $9,235 (9–12)
Monroe County: $11,950 (K–3), $11,354 (4–8), $11,199 (9–12)

FES-UA awards are higher because they also fund therapies and specialized services. For 2025–26, FES-UA amounts start around $10,000 for students with lower-level service needs (ESE Levels 1–3) and can exceed $34,000 for younger students with the highest level of need.¹¹ Amounts for 2026–27 are expected to be published in July 2026.

Funds are deposited into the student’s EMA account on a quarterly schedule. Each quarter, the school submits an invoice through EMA and a parent or guardian has to log in to approve the payment before funds are released.¹²

1
Step Up For Students. Step Up For Students Renewed as Florida’s Top SFO
2
Step Up For Students. Explore Scholarships for Pre-K to 12 Students in Florida
3
Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 1002.394 – The Family Empowerment Scholarship Program
4
Florida Department of Education. Personalized Education Program (PEP) FAQs
5
Florida Department of Education. Florida Scholarship Purchasing Handbook 2026-2027 School Year
6
Florida Department of Education. Family Empowerment Scholarship – Unique Abilities (FES-UA) FAQs
7
Step Up For Students. Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students With Unique Abilities Parent Handbook
8
Step Up For Students. FES-UA Purchasing Guide 2025-2026
9
Step Up For Students. Transportation Stipend
10
Step Up For Students. 2025-26 Scholarship Award Amounts by District
11
Step Up For Students. 2025-26 Unique Abilities Scholarship Award Amounts by District
12
Step Up For Students. Fund – Understanding the Scholarship Payment Schedule