Applying for Florida’s PEP scholarship

Overview

Enlightium Academy families living in Florida may be eligible to have some or all of their student’s tuition reimbursed through Florida’s Personalized Education Program (PEP) scholarship. Enlightium Academy’s team has been coordinating with Florida’s Department of Education representatives to pave the way for your family to take advantage of this offering.  All Florida families are encouraged to pursue this opportunity by applying as a Personalized Education Program student through Florida’s Step Up Program. This article will walk you through the steps to apply and submit for reimbursement upon approval. Applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-serve basis, so it is important to apply now to have the best chance at securing your funds.  The PEP scholarship application is open to all families whose students are in Kindergarten through 12th grade, are Florida residents, and are not planning to be enrolled in a full-time brick-and-mortar private or public school. This includes students enrolled in Online Christian Schools such as Enlightium Academy.

Your Next Steps

To take advantage of this opportunity, Enlightium Academy families can follow these steps: Pay the standard tuition using the Enlightium prepayment discount; please speak to Enlightium’s enrollment consultants team if you have questions about this. If you do not have an account, you will need to create one at apply.stepupforstudents.org. Add your student(s) to your account by clicking “Add Student” and completing the form. Click on “Apply for Scholarships” on your dashboard. Choose “<applicable school year> FTC/FES-EO and FTCPEP Application.” Complete the application for the FTCPEP scholarship. For step-by-step instructions, refer to the video link here or see “Detailed Written Steps” below. Once your scholarship is awarded, you may submit your paid tuition for reimbursement. It can take up to six weeks for your application’s status to be updated.  Email billing@enlightiumacademy.com to request a statement for the applicable school year.  Once Enlightium’s Billing Department has provided you with a statement, sign into your account and use the statement to submit a reimbursement request.  When completing the reimbursement request, input the following responses:  Under the “Home Education Tuition / Fee” category, submit the statement for reimbursement. In the description, type “Online course”. Where it asks, “Who did you pay?”, type “Enlightium Academy”. In the “Education benefits” section, type “Homeschooling with Enlightium Academy”. In the provider dropdown, do not select “Enlightium Academy”. Email billing@enlightiumacademy to let us know if you are reimbursed! We want to make sure as many Florida families can take advantage of this as possible. Hearing from families about their approvals or reasons for denial will allow us to better serve you and other Enlightium families.

Important Details

Remember the following when completing your application:  At any time, you may select “Save as a Draft” to save your progress and come back later. All your saved drafts will be found on your dashboard, and you can select the saved draft(s) to continue the process.  At any point before you submit your application, you can add an existing student via the “Add a Student” blue button, or you can remove a student via the trashcan icon next to the student’s name. You will only submit one application for your household for the FTCPEP scholarship.

After You Submit the Application

Once you have completed your application: Remember that it could take up to six weeks to receive your application status To view your student’s scholarship status, follow these steps:  Click on the “My Student” tab within your EMA account Click view next to your active student’s name Scroll down to see the Award ID under the “Scholarship Status” section. You will only be able to access your student’s “Award ID” number after you have completed your student’s application and they have been awarded.  Click here to access the Step-Up for Students website, where you can file an application for the PEP Scholarship.