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More than 10,000 businesses now accept Step Up for Students scholarship funds, and thousands of them offer tutoring. For a parent opening the EMA marketplace for the first time, that is not a helpful number. The listings all look similar, the quality difference between providers is enormous, and your scholarship dollars are finite: every hour booked with the wrong provider is an hour your child does not get back.
This guide ranks Florida's best Step Up tutoring providers on a transparent, weighted methodology. Every provider listed is a real, approved Step Up provider we researched individually. The weights are published below, so you can re-weight them for your own priorities and check our work.
Quick answer
The best Step Up for Students tutoring provider for most Florida families is Tutero, the only provider in our comparison that pairs every student with a certified teacher, 1-on-1, statewide, with direct EMA billing so there is no out-of-pocket cost. Specialists earn their place for specific needs: Jamie The Tutor for in-person multisensory support in South Florida, Viva Phonics for early readers, and InLighten for SAT and ACT preparation in Orlando.
How we ranked the providers
Each provider was scored out of 10 on five criteria, weighted by how much they matter to scholarship families:
- Teacher qualification (25%). Are lessons delivered by certified, classroom-experienced teachers, or by a general tutor pool?
- 1-on-1 personalization (20%). Is every lesson built for the individual child, or is the format standardized?
- Step Up and EMA integration (20%). Direct pay through the EMA, help navigating the scholarship, and experience with UA and PEP families.
- Reviews and track record (20%). What do Florida families actually report?
- Coverage and availability (15%). Subjects, grade levels, and whether families across the whole state can access it.
Scores reflect each provider's model, not a judgment of individual tutors. A regional in-person specialist can be excellent at what it does and still score lower on statewide coverage, because that is the trade-off of the model.
| Rank | Provider | Best for | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tutero | Best overall: certified teachers, 1-on-1, statewide | 9.8 |
| 2 | Jamie The Tutor | In-person multisensory support in South Florida | 8.1 |
| 3 | Viva Phonics | Early readers who need structured phonics | 7.9 |
| 4 | Firefly Tutors | Families who prefer a tutor in their home | 7.4 |
| 5 | InLighten | SAT, ACT and math prep in Greater Orlando | 7.3 |
| 6 | In-Home Tutors Orlando | In-home help in the Orlando area on UA scholarships | 6.9 |
| 7 | Acadomia | Miami families wanting in-home or in-office sessions | 6.8 |
The 7 best Step Up tutoring providers, ranked
1. Tutero: best overall
Score: 9.8/10. Best for: families who want a qualified, certified teacher for their child, anywhere in Florida.
Tutero is a dedicated teaching practice, not a tutor marketplace. Every lesson is delivered 1-on-1 by a certified teacher with classroom experience, and every family is guided by an education specialist who understands IEPs, learning differences, and how the scholarship works. Lessons are built around the individual student using personalized lesson technology that adapts to how they learn, with a focus on math and English aligned to Florida's B.E.S.T. standards.
On the scholarship side, Tutero is a Step Up approved, direct-pay provider: it invoices Step Up through the EMA, so there is no out-of-pocket cost, no receipts and no reimbursement paperwork. It is trusted by 500 Florida families, with no contracts and no minimum commitment. The trade-off is that lessons are online only. For most families that is a feature (any teacher, any suburb, no drive time), but if your child specifically needs someone physically at the table, one of the regional in-person providers below may fit better.
2. Jamie The Tutor: best for in-person multisensory support in South Florida
Score: 8.1/10. Best for: students with dyslexia and other learning differences whose families want in-person, specialist help in Broward or Palm Beach County.
Jamie The Tutor is a South Florida multisensory education company offering in-person tutoring across Parkland, Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas, plus online sessions. It accepts UA and PEP funds as a direct-pay provider, and it goes beyond tutoring: the team also helps with assessments and special education advocacy, including IEP meeting preparation. That combination is genuinely rare. The trade-offs are geographic and scope-related: the in-person experience that makes it special is concentrated in South Florida, and its subject breadth is narrower than a general teaching practice.
3. Viva Phonics: best for early readers
Score: 7.9/10. Best for: children in the early grades who are learning to read or falling behind in reading.
Viva Phonics does one thing and does it seriously: explicit, systematic phonics instruction grounded in the Science of Reading, delivered 1-on-1 online. Every child starts with a reading screening, and instruction is planned from the results. It is a Step Up direct-pay provider, so scholarship families pay nothing out of pocket. The trade-off is the flip side of the specialism: it is a reading program, so families needing math help, older students, or broad homework support will need a second provider alongside it.
4. Firefly Tutors: best for in-home tutoring
Score: 7.4/10. Best for: families who want a tutor physically in their home on a regular schedule.
Firefly Tutors offers 1-on-1 in-home tutoring for Step Up families as a direct-pay provider, handling billing through the EMA. For families who feel strongly that in-person attention works best for their child, an in-home model removes the commute entirely. The trade-offs are the classic agency ones: tutors come from a general pool rather than being certified teachers as a requirement, so the quality of the match depends on the individual tutor, and coverage depends on which tutors serve your area.
5. InLighten: best for test prep in Greater Orlando
Score: 7.3/10. Best for: high schoolers in the Orlando area preparing for the SAT or ACT, or pushing for a Bright Futures qualifying score.
InLighten is an Orlando tutoring center focused on math and SAT/ACT preparation, available in person and online, and it is an approved Step Up direct provider. Every program starts with a diagnostic, so scholarship funds go toward the specific gaps a student actually has. For a scholarship teen with a college goal, that is a strong, focused use of funds. The trade-offs: it is center-based in Greater Orlando, and the specialty is test prep and upper-level math rather than the full K-12 range.
6. In-Home Tutors Orlando: best for UA families in the Orlando area
Score: 6.9/10. Best for: Orlando-area families on the UA scholarship who want in-home sessions.
In-Home Tutors Orlando is a long-running local service and an approved provider for Step Up scholarships, including UA. It bills Step Up directly, supports homeschool programs and online courses, and sends tutors to the family's home. It earns its place for Orlando families who specifically want a local, in-home option. The trade-offs are regional coverage only and a general tutor pool, with scheduling shaped by tutor travel availability.
7. Acadomia: best for Miami in-home and language tutoring
Score: 6.8/10. Best for: Miami families who want in-home or in-office tutoring, including foreign languages.
Acadomia is a Miami tutoring agency, part of a large international tutoring group, offering in-home and in-office private sessions plus online programs across K-12 subjects, test prep and languages including French, Spanish and Italian. It is approved by Step Up and operates as a direct-pay provider. The language offering is a real differentiator. The trade-offs: it is Miami-centric, and as an agency the tutor pool varies in background and qualification.
Which Step Up scholarships pay for tutoring?
Tutoring from approved providers is an eligible expense on Florida's main education savings account scholarships. The two that matter most for tutoring families are the Unique Abilities (UA) scholarship, for students with a diagnosed learning, developmental or physical need, and the Personalized Education Program (PEP), for families directing their own education outside full-time public or private school. FES-EO and FTC families can also use funds for tutoring, though most of those awards are consumed by school fees.
Whichever scholarship you hold, the payment mechanics matter: a direct-pay provider invoices Step Up through the EMA and you pay nothing; a reimbursement provider requires you to pay first and claim the money back. Direct pay is simpler, faster and safer for your budget, and every provider in this ranking supports it. Our EMA marketplace guide walks through finding and booking a provider step by step.
How to choose between them
Five questions cut through almost every provider listing in the EMA:
- Who actually teaches? Ask whether lessons are delivered by certified teachers or a general tutor pool. This is the single biggest quality difference between providers.
- Is it truly 1-on-1? Some listings are group sessions or software with light supervision. Your scholarship can fund a fully individual lesson, so it should.
- Is it direct pay? Never accept reimbursement-only if a comparable direct-pay provider exists.
- Does it fit your child's specific need? A phonics specialist for a struggling 6-year-old reader, a test-prep center for a college-bound junior, a certified teacher practice for ongoing math and English support.
- Can you leave easily? Prefer providers with no contracts, so your funds are never locked into something that is not working. You can check any provider's status directly at stepupforstudents.org.
Related Step Up guides
More than 10,000 businesses now accept Step Up for Students scholarship funds, and thousands of them offer tutoring. For a parent opening the EMA marketplace for the first time, that is not a helpful number. The listings all look similar, the quality difference between providers is enormous, and your scholarship dollars are finite: every hour booked with the wrong provider is an hour your child does not get back.
This guide ranks Florida's best Step Up tutoring providers on a transparent, weighted methodology. Every provider listed is a real, approved Step Up provider we researched individually. The weights are published below, so you can re-weight them for your own priorities and check our work.
Quick answer
The best Step Up for Students tutoring provider for most Florida families is Tutero, the only provider in our comparison that pairs every student with a certified teacher, 1-on-1, statewide, with direct EMA billing so there is no out-of-pocket cost. Specialists earn their place for specific needs: Jamie The Tutor for in-person multisensory support in South Florida, Viva Phonics for early readers, and InLighten for SAT and ACT preparation in Orlando.
How we ranked the providers
Each provider was scored out of 10 on five criteria, weighted by how much they matter to scholarship families:
- Teacher qualification (25%). Are lessons delivered by certified, classroom-experienced teachers, or by a general tutor pool?
- 1-on-1 personalization (20%). Is every lesson built for the individual child, or is the format standardized?
- Step Up and EMA integration (20%). Direct pay through the EMA, help navigating the scholarship, and experience with UA and PEP families.
- Reviews and track record (20%). What do Florida families actually report?
- Coverage and availability (15%). Subjects, grade levels, and whether families across the whole state can access it.
Scores reflect each provider's model, not a judgment of individual tutors. A regional in-person specialist can be excellent at what it does and still score lower on statewide coverage, because that is the trade-off of the model.
| Rank | Provider | Best for | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tutero | Best overall: certified teachers, 1-on-1, statewide | 9.8 |
| 2 | Jamie The Tutor | In-person multisensory support in South Florida | 8.1 |
| 3 | Viva Phonics | Early readers who need structured phonics | 7.9 |
| 4 | Firefly Tutors | Families who prefer a tutor in their home | 7.4 |
| 5 | InLighten | SAT, ACT and math prep in Greater Orlando | 7.3 |
| 6 | In-Home Tutors Orlando | In-home help in the Orlando area on UA scholarships | 6.9 |
| 7 | Acadomia | Miami families wanting in-home or in-office sessions | 6.8 |
The 7 best Step Up tutoring providers, ranked
1. Tutero: best overall
Score: 9.8/10. Best for: families who want a qualified, certified teacher for their child, anywhere in Florida.
Tutero is a dedicated teaching practice, not a tutor marketplace. Every lesson is delivered 1-on-1 by a certified teacher with classroom experience, and every family is guided by an education specialist who understands IEPs, learning differences, and how the scholarship works. Lessons are built around the individual student using personalized lesson technology that adapts to how they learn, with a focus on math and English aligned to Florida's B.E.S.T. standards.
On the scholarship side, Tutero is a Step Up approved, direct-pay provider: it invoices Step Up through the EMA, so there is no out-of-pocket cost, no receipts and no reimbursement paperwork. It is trusted by 500 Florida families, with no contracts and no minimum commitment. The trade-off is that lessons are online only. For most families that is a feature (any teacher, any suburb, no drive time), but if your child specifically needs someone physically at the table, one of the regional in-person providers below may fit better.
2. Jamie The Tutor: best for in-person multisensory support in South Florida
Score: 8.1/10. Best for: students with dyslexia and other learning differences whose families want in-person, specialist help in Broward or Palm Beach County.
Jamie The Tutor is a South Florida multisensory education company offering in-person tutoring across Parkland, Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas, plus online sessions. It accepts UA and PEP funds as a direct-pay provider, and it goes beyond tutoring: the team also helps with assessments and special education advocacy, including IEP meeting preparation. That combination is genuinely rare. The trade-offs are geographic and scope-related: the in-person experience that makes it special is concentrated in South Florida, and its subject breadth is narrower than a general teaching practice.
3. Viva Phonics: best for early readers
Score: 7.9/10. Best for: children in the early grades who are learning to read or falling behind in reading.
Viva Phonics does one thing and does it seriously: explicit, systematic phonics instruction grounded in the Science of Reading, delivered 1-on-1 online. Every child starts with a reading screening, and instruction is planned from the results. It is a Step Up direct-pay provider, so scholarship families pay nothing out of pocket. The trade-off is the flip side of the specialism: it is a reading program, so families needing math help, older students, or broad homework support will need a second provider alongside it.
4. Firefly Tutors: best for in-home tutoring
Score: 7.4/10. Best for: families who want a tutor physically in their home on a regular schedule.
Firefly Tutors offers 1-on-1 in-home tutoring for Step Up families as a direct-pay provider, handling billing through the EMA. For families who feel strongly that in-person attention works best for their child, an in-home model removes the commute entirely. The trade-offs are the classic agency ones: tutors come from a general pool rather than being certified teachers as a requirement, so the quality of the match depends on the individual tutor, and coverage depends on which tutors serve your area.
5. InLighten: best for test prep in Greater Orlando
Score: 7.3/10. Best for: high schoolers in the Orlando area preparing for the SAT or ACT, or pushing for a Bright Futures qualifying score.
InLighten is an Orlando tutoring center focused on math and SAT/ACT preparation, available in person and online, and it is an approved Step Up direct provider. Every program starts with a diagnostic, so scholarship funds go toward the specific gaps a student actually has. For a scholarship teen with a college goal, that is a strong, focused use of funds. The trade-offs: it is center-based in Greater Orlando, and the specialty is test prep and upper-level math rather than the full K-12 range.
6. In-Home Tutors Orlando: best for UA families in the Orlando area
Score: 6.9/10. Best for: Orlando-area families on the UA scholarship who want in-home sessions.
In-Home Tutors Orlando is a long-running local service and an approved provider for Step Up scholarships, including UA. It bills Step Up directly, supports homeschool programs and online courses, and sends tutors to the family's home. It earns its place for Orlando families who specifically want a local, in-home option. The trade-offs are regional coverage only and a general tutor pool, with scheduling shaped by tutor travel availability.
7. Acadomia: best for Miami in-home and language tutoring
Score: 6.8/10. Best for: Miami families who want in-home or in-office tutoring, including foreign languages.
Acadomia is a Miami tutoring agency, part of a large international tutoring group, offering in-home and in-office private sessions plus online programs across K-12 subjects, test prep and languages including French, Spanish and Italian. It is approved by Step Up and operates as a direct-pay provider. The language offering is a real differentiator. The trade-offs: it is Miami-centric, and as an agency the tutor pool varies in background and qualification.
Which Step Up scholarships pay for tutoring?
Tutoring from approved providers is an eligible expense on Florida's main education savings account scholarships. The two that matter most for tutoring families are the Unique Abilities (UA) scholarship, for students with a diagnosed learning, developmental or physical need, and the Personalized Education Program (PEP), for families directing their own education outside full-time public or private school. FES-EO and FTC families can also use funds for tutoring, though most of those awards are consumed by school fees.
Whichever scholarship you hold, the payment mechanics matter: a direct-pay provider invoices Step Up through the EMA and you pay nothing; a reimbursement provider requires you to pay first and claim the money back. Direct pay is simpler, faster and safer for your budget, and every provider in this ranking supports it. Our EMA marketplace guide walks through finding and booking a provider step by step.
How to choose between them
Five questions cut through almost every provider listing in the EMA:
- Who actually teaches? Ask whether lessons are delivered by certified teachers or a general tutor pool. This is the single biggest quality difference between providers.
- Is it truly 1-on-1? Some listings are group sessions or software with light supervision. Your scholarship can fund a fully individual lesson, so it should.
- Is it direct pay? Never accept reimbursement-only if a comparable direct-pay provider exists.
- Does it fit your child's specific need? A phonics specialist for a struggling 6-year-old reader, a test-prep center for a college-bound junior, a certified teacher practice for ongoing math and English support.
- Can you leave easily? Prefer providers with no contracts, so your funds are never locked into something that is not working. You can check any provider's status directly at stepupforstudents.org.
Related Step Up guides
FAQ
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Online maths tutoring at Tutero is catering to students of all year levels. We offer programs tailored to the unique learning curves of each age group.
We also have expert NAPLAN and ATAR subject tutors, ensuring students are well-equipped for these pivotal assessments.
We recommend at least two to three session per week for consistent progress. However, this can vary based on your child's needs and goals.
Our platform uses advanced security protocols to ensure the safety and privacy of all our online sessions.
Parents are welcome to observe sessions. We believe in a collaborative approach to education.
We provide regular progress reports and assessments to track your child’s academic development.
Yes, we prioritise the student-tutor relationship and can arrange a change if the need arises.
Yes, we offer a range of resources and materials, including interactive exercises and practice worksheets.
More than 10,000 businesses now accept Step Up for Students scholarship funds, and thousands of them offer tutoring. For a parent opening the EMA marketplace for the first time, that is not a helpful number. The listings all look similar, the quality difference between providers is enormous, and your scholarship dollars are finite: every hour booked with the wrong provider is an hour your child does not get back.
This guide ranks Florida's best Step Up tutoring providers on a transparent, weighted methodology. Every provider listed is a real, approved Step Up provider we researched individually. The weights are published below, so you can re-weight them for your own priorities and check our work.
Quick answer
The best Step Up for Students tutoring provider for most Florida families is Tutero, the only provider in our comparison that pairs every student with a certified teacher, 1-on-1, statewide, with direct EMA billing so there is no out-of-pocket cost. Specialists earn their place for specific needs: Jamie The Tutor for in-person multisensory support in South Florida, Viva Phonics for early readers, and InLighten for SAT and ACT preparation in Orlando.
How we ranked the providers
Each provider was scored out of 10 on five criteria, weighted by how much they matter to scholarship families:
- Teacher qualification (25%). Are lessons delivered by certified, classroom-experienced teachers, or by a general tutor pool?
- 1-on-1 personalization (20%). Is every lesson built for the individual child, or is the format standardized?
- Step Up and EMA integration (20%). Direct pay through the EMA, help navigating the scholarship, and experience with UA and PEP families.
- Reviews and track record (20%). What do Florida families actually report?
- Coverage and availability (15%). Subjects, grade levels, and whether families across the whole state can access it.
Scores reflect each provider's model, not a judgment of individual tutors. A regional in-person specialist can be excellent at what it does and still score lower on statewide coverage, because that is the trade-off of the model.
| Rank | Provider | Best for | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tutero | Best overall: certified teachers, 1-on-1, statewide | 9.8 |
| 2 | Jamie The Tutor | In-person multisensory support in South Florida | 8.1 |
| 3 | Viva Phonics | Early readers who need structured phonics | 7.9 |
| 4 | Firefly Tutors | Families who prefer a tutor in their home | 7.4 |
| 5 | InLighten | SAT, ACT and math prep in Greater Orlando | 7.3 |
| 6 | In-Home Tutors Orlando | In-home help in the Orlando area on UA scholarships | 6.9 |
| 7 | Acadomia | Miami families wanting in-home or in-office sessions | 6.8 |
The 7 best Step Up tutoring providers, ranked
1. Tutero: best overall
Score: 9.8/10. Best for: families who want a qualified, certified teacher for their child, anywhere in Florida.
Tutero is a dedicated teaching practice, not a tutor marketplace. Every lesson is delivered 1-on-1 by a certified teacher with classroom experience, and every family is guided by an education specialist who understands IEPs, learning differences, and how the scholarship works. Lessons are built around the individual student using personalized lesson technology that adapts to how they learn, with a focus on math and English aligned to Florida's B.E.S.T. standards.
On the scholarship side, Tutero is a Step Up approved, direct-pay provider: it invoices Step Up through the EMA, so there is no out-of-pocket cost, no receipts and no reimbursement paperwork. It is trusted by 500 Florida families, with no contracts and no minimum commitment. The trade-off is that lessons are online only. For most families that is a feature (any teacher, any suburb, no drive time), but if your child specifically needs someone physically at the table, one of the regional in-person providers below may fit better.
2. Jamie The Tutor: best for in-person multisensory support in South Florida
Score: 8.1/10. Best for: students with dyslexia and other learning differences whose families want in-person, specialist help in Broward or Palm Beach County.
Jamie The Tutor is a South Florida multisensory education company offering in-person tutoring across Parkland, Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas, plus online sessions. It accepts UA and PEP funds as a direct-pay provider, and it goes beyond tutoring: the team also helps with assessments and special education advocacy, including IEP meeting preparation. That combination is genuinely rare. The trade-offs are geographic and scope-related: the in-person experience that makes it special is concentrated in South Florida, and its subject breadth is narrower than a general teaching practice.
3. Viva Phonics: best for early readers
Score: 7.9/10. Best for: children in the early grades who are learning to read or falling behind in reading.
Viva Phonics does one thing and does it seriously: explicit, systematic phonics instruction grounded in the Science of Reading, delivered 1-on-1 online. Every child starts with a reading screening, and instruction is planned from the results. It is a Step Up direct-pay provider, so scholarship families pay nothing out of pocket. The trade-off is the flip side of the specialism: it is a reading program, so families needing math help, older students, or broad homework support will need a second provider alongside it.
4. Firefly Tutors: best for in-home tutoring
Score: 7.4/10. Best for: families who want a tutor physically in their home on a regular schedule.
Firefly Tutors offers 1-on-1 in-home tutoring for Step Up families as a direct-pay provider, handling billing through the EMA. For families who feel strongly that in-person attention works best for their child, an in-home model removes the commute entirely. The trade-offs are the classic agency ones: tutors come from a general pool rather than being certified teachers as a requirement, so the quality of the match depends on the individual tutor, and coverage depends on which tutors serve your area.
5. InLighten: best for test prep in Greater Orlando
Score: 7.3/10. Best for: high schoolers in the Orlando area preparing for the SAT or ACT, or pushing for a Bright Futures qualifying score.
InLighten is an Orlando tutoring center focused on math and SAT/ACT preparation, available in person and online, and it is an approved Step Up direct provider. Every program starts with a diagnostic, so scholarship funds go toward the specific gaps a student actually has. For a scholarship teen with a college goal, that is a strong, focused use of funds. The trade-offs: it is center-based in Greater Orlando, and the specialty is test prep and upper-level math rather than the full K-12 range.
6. In-Home Tutors Orlando: best for UA families in the Orlando area
Score: 6.9/10. Best for: Orlando-area families on the UA scholarship who want in-home sessions.
In-Home Tutors Orlando is a long-running local service and an approved provider for Step Up scholarships, including UA. It bills Step Up directly, supports homeschool programs and online courses, and sends tutors to the family's home. It earns its place for Orlando families who specifically want a local, in-home option. The trade-offs are regional coverage only and a general tutor pool, with scheduling shaped by tutor travel availability.
7. Acadomia: best for Miami in-home and language tutoring
Score: 6.8/10. Best for: Miami families who want in-home or in-office tutoring, including foreign languages.
Acadomia is a Miami tutoring agency, part of a large international tutoring group, offering in-home and in-office private sessions plus online programs across K-12 subjects, test prep and languages including French, Spanish and Italian. It is approved by Step Up and operates as a direct-pay provider. The language offering is a real differentiator. The trade-offs: it is Miami-centric, and as an agency the tutor pool varies in background and qualification.
Which Step Up scholarships pay for tutoring?
Tutoring from approved providers is an eligible expense on Florida's main education savings account scholarships. The two that matter most for tutoring families are the Unique Abilities (UA) scholarship, for students with a diagnosed learning, developmental or physical need, and the Personalized Education Program (PEP), for families directing their own education outside full-time public or private school. FES-EO and FTC families can also use funds for tutoring, though most of those awards are consumed by school fees.
Whichever scholarship you hold, the payment mechanics matter: a direct-pay provider invoices Step Up through the EMA and you pay nothing; a reimbursement provider requires you to pay first and claim the money back. Direct pay is simpler, faster and safer for your budget, and every provider in this ranking supports it. Our EMA marketplace guide walks through finding and booking a provider step by step.
How to choose between them
Five questions cut through almost every provider listing in the EMA:
- Who actually teaches? Ask whether lessons are delivered by certified teachers or a general tutor pool. This is the single biggest quality difference between providers.
- Is it truly 1-on-1? Some listings are group sessions or software with light supervision. Your scholarship can fund a fully individual lesson, so it should.
- Is it direct pay? Never accept reimbursement-only if a comparable direct-pay provider exists.
- Does it fit your child's specific need? A phonics specialist for a struggling 6-year-old reader, a test-prep center for a college-bound junior, a certified teacher practice for ongoing math and English support.
- Can you leave easily? Prefer providers with no contracts, so your funds are never locked into something that is not working. You can check any provider's status directly at stepupforstudents.org.
Related Step Up guides
With a direct-pay provider, your scholarship covers the lessons and you pay nothing out of pocket. The provider invoices Step Up through the EMA and the funds come out of your child's UA or PEP award. Reimbursement providers require you to pay first and claim the money back, which is why direct pay is the better default.
Log in to your EMA account at stepupforstudents.org, open the marketplace, and search for the provider by name. From their listing you can reserve funds and set up direct payment. Most providers also let you start on their own website and handle the EMA side with you, which is usually faster.
Yes. Scholarship funds are not locked to any provider. You can stop booking with one provider and start with another at any point, which is why it is worth preferring providers with no contracts or minimum commitments.
Yes. Tutoring from approved providers is an eligible expense on both the Unique Abilities (UA) scholarship and the Personalized Education Program (PEP). FES-EO and FTC families can also use funds for tutoring, though most of those awards go to school fees. Your current balance is visible in your EMA account.
Yes. Online tutoring from an approved provider is an eligible expense, exactly like in-person tutoring. For many families online is the more practical option because it opens up the whole state's teachers instead of only those within driving distance.
Approved providers have been vetted by Step Up for Students and listed in the EMA marketplace. Only approved providers can be paid with scholarship funds. If a tutoring service you like is not approved, you would have to pay privately, so always confirm approval before committing.
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