Navigating the Step Up For Students Unique Abilities Program: Eligibility and Benefits

The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) program, administered by Step Up For Students, provides financial assistance to Florida students with unique abilities, enabling their families to customize their education. This article will guide you through the eligibility requirements, benefits, and recent changes to the program.

Introduction to the FES-UA Program

Children with unique abilities often require specialized educational support. The FES-UA scholarship addresses this need by providing access to an education savings account (ESA). This ESA functions as a flexible bank account, empowering parents to direct funds toward approved educational expenses and programs that best suit their child’s individual needs. The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) enables families to personalize the education of their students by directing funds to where they’re needed most.

Eligibility Requirements

The FES-UA scholarship is available to Florida students aged 3 through 12th grade, or up to age 22, who have one of the following disabilities:

Anaphylaxis
Autism spectrum disorder
Cerebral palsy
Deaf or hearing impaired
Down syndrome
Dual sensory impaired
Emotional or behavior disability
Intellectual disability (severe cognitive impairment)
Language impaired
Muscular dystrophy
Orthopedic impaired
Phelan-McDermid syndrome
Prader-Willi syndrome
Rare disease (as defined by the National Organization for Rare Disorders)
Speech impairment
Specific learning disability
Spina bifida
Traumatic brain injury
Williams syndrome

Students aged 3 to 5 who are deemed "high risk" due to developmental delays may also be eligible. Students can continue to receive scholarship funding until they graduate from high school, reach age 22, or return to public school. To apply, you will need to show proof of your child’s age, diagnosis, and residency.

How the FES-UA Program Works

The FES-UA program provides access to an education savings account (ESA) that functions like a flexible bank account from which you direct funds to pay for tuition and fees for a private school, therapies, tutoring and more. Families have the option to purchase products through MyScholarShop or services through EMA without having to pay out of pocket. However, they can still use providers or vendors outside of MyScholarShop and EMA for pre-approved purchases by paying upfront and submitting a reimbursement claim.

Authorized Uses of Program Funds

The FES-UA scholarship offers flexibility in how funds can be used to support a student's education. These funds can be used for a combination of programs and approved expenses including therapists, specialists, curriculum, private school, a college savings account and more. Authorized expenses include:

Tuition and fees for private schools or other eligible educational programs.
Therapies: Funds can be used to cover the costs of therapies and specialized services tailored to the student's unique needs.
Specialists: Payments to specialists who provide educational support and interventions.
Curriculum: Purchase of educational materials and curriculum resources.
College Savings Account: Contributions to a college savings account to help fund future education expenses.

Award Amounts

FES-UA scholarships vary by grade, county and severity of need. The 2025-26 award amounts are now available. Please note: We are updating our system to reflect the 2025-26 award amounts; however, this process may take a couple of weeks. If your student has been awarded a 2025-26 scholarship, your student award details may continue to show the 2024-25 award amounts for now.

Recent Legislative Changes: House Bill 1

New legislation (HB 1) passed that affects Florida’s school choice programs. Signed by Governor DeSantis on March 27, these changes went into effect on July 1, 2023. The new House Bill 1 expands eligibility for all K-12 students, regardless of household income, and converts the scholarship into education savings accounts, or “ESAs”. It also creates a new program called the Personalized Education Program, or "PEP". An education savings account program that allows parents to customize the education of students who are not attending public or private schools full-time.

Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) /Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO)

The new legislation expands the eligibility of the Florida Tax Credit (FTC) and Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO) programs to allow K-12 students who are Florida residents to gain access to a scholarship, regardless of household income. Renewing families will continue to receive first priority. The ESAs allow for more flexibility in how scholarship funds can be invested in their child’s education. Instructional materials Curriculum Tuition & fees for: Full-time or part-time enrollment in an eligible postsecondary institution or a program offered by a postsecondary institution An approved pre-apprenticeship program A private tutoring program A virtual program from a Dept. of Education-approved private online provider Florida Virtual School as a private pay student An approved online course Fees for: Nationally standardized, norm-referenced achievements tests Advanced Placement exams Industry certification exams Assessments related to postsecondary education, or Other assessments Contracted services provided by a public school or school district, including classes (subject to the school’s space and availability) Tuition & fees for part-time tutoring services or fees for services provided by a choice navigator.

Personalized Education Program (PEP)

Creates a new program called the Personalized Education Program, or "PEP". An education savings account program that allows parents to customize the education of students who are not attending public or private schools full-time.

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Choice Navigators

“Choice navigators” provide consultations to students and families on The selection of, application for, and enrollment in educational options addressing the academics needs of the student Curriculum selection Advice on career and postsecondary education opportunities They must meet the same requirements as private tutors under FES Choice navigators are not permitted to oversee or exercise control over the curricula or academic programs of a personalized education program.

Transportation Scholarship

Allows all students who are eligible for FES-EO to use the transportation scholarship.

Applying for the FES-UA Scholarship

Apply for a scholarship through Step Up For Students. You will need to show proof of your child’s age, diagnosis, and residency. Get details on how to access scholarships for your child's education-learn more here.

Additional Resources

Step Up For Students offers a variety of resources to help families navigate the FES-UA program:

Parent and Provider Handbooks: The 2023-2024 Handbooks are now available. Access the latest updates and handbooks here.
Florida Choice Universal Handbook: For PEP, Transporation, FTC, and FES-EO, you can find information regarding your specific program in the Florida Choice Universal Handbook.
Florida Choice FES-UA handbook: FES-UA continues with its own handbook called the Florida Choice FES-UA handbook.
Scholarship Application Checklist: A list of requirements for all new and renewal applications for private school, Unique Abilities and PEP.
Educational Benefit Form: This form allows you to provide information on how your purchased item will help your student learn.
FES-UA Open House: Join us for our monthly FES-UA Family Open House webinar. The slide decks are available for download in the YouTube video description.

Success Stories

Step Up For Students has empowered many students to achieve their educational goals. Here are a few examples:

Yonas: From Ethiopia to No. 1 in his high school class to UF with the help of a private school scholarship. "Education is the key to getting anything that he wants. I realized that it can open many doors for him in the future." - Tekleseld, Yonas's Mother.
Valentina: Brave warrior, inspiring model flourishes with scholarship. “She progressed like I have never seen before, and we were able to do that because of the Gardiner Scholarship (now the Family Empowerment Scholarship).” - Elizalde, Valentina's Mother.
Samantha: Reading grades improve, love of books grows with the help of Florida’s Reading Scholarship. "…everybody said if you read to your kids as soon as they are born, they’re going to be readers, but that didn’t work.” - Lindsey, Samantha's Mother.
Nick: A sigh of relief: How the Hope Scholarship helped change one student's life. "There's no words to describe it… It's awesome. He complains when he can't go to school." - Todd, Nick's Father.
Nanya: “Without Step Up I don’t know if I would be able to reach the goals I’m about to reach.” - Step Up Scholarship Recipient
Zoe Elverillo: “I’ve always felt education was No. 1 over everything, I always wanted to prove it to myself.” - Step Up Scholarship Recipient

These stories highlight the transformative impact of the FES-UA program on the lives of students with unique abilities.

Additional Information and Updates

Scholarship Funding

Good news-Quarter 1 scholarship funding has started for renewal students! Families will begin seeing funds in their account soon for renewal students. Funding will occur on a rolling basis and may take up to two weeks for all accounts to be updated. If you haven’t received your payment or heard anything about your funding status by August 25, please reach out to us. Please check your account. Scholarship accounts must have a balance of less than $50,000 in order to receive additional funds.

Switching Between Scholarship Programs

My student was attending a private school on scholarship, but now we attend a public school. What happened to my scholarship? If your student was found eligible for the Private School Scholarship (FTC/FES-EO) and you would like to switch to a PEP Scholarship (FTCPEP), this can only be done before that year’s PEP Scholarship acceptance deadline. For 2025-26, the acceptance deadline was May 31, 2025. If your student was found eligible for PEP, and you would like to switch to a Private School Scholarship (FTC/FES-EO), do not decline their scholarship in EMA. Florida law prohibits a family from applying for more than one scholarship at a time for an individual student.

Military Families

I’m active-duty military and currently live out of state, but I’ve been assigned to a base in Florida and plan to move soon. Yes. If you are an active-duty member of the United States Armed Forces and have been given permanent change of station orders to move to Florida, you will be eligible for the Private School Scholarship (FTC/FES-EO), Unique Abilities Scholarship (FES-UA) and the PEP Scholarship before you make your move. I’m an active-duty military and a resident of Florida, but I’ve been assigned to a base outside of Florida and plan to move soon. Yes, as long as Florida residency is legally maintained and can be documented using a Leave and Earnings Statement or the IRS Declaration of Domicile Form 2058. Active-duty military with change of station orders out-of-state may apply for, or renew their Unique Abilities or PEP Scholarships, if they can prove maintenance of Florida residency.

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