Unique Abilities Scholarship Funding
Utilizing Your Unique Abilities Scholarship
Congratulations on receiving your student’s Unique Abilities Scholarship funding. Please continue reading for helpful information on how to use their funds.
Note for FES-UA Legacy Students (those funded through the FES-UA program since the 2022-23 year and before):
If you submitted a reimbursement and/or pre-authorization request in the Legacy System prior to January 15, please continue to monitor your legacy account for any outstanding provider invoices that need approval OR for requests to submit additional information for your request. If additional information is needed, you will have through February 13, 2025, to submit the requested information in the Legacy System.
Also, when submitting a reimbursement in EMA for a pre-authorization that was approved in the Legacy System, please provide the Legacy Pre-Authorization ID in the “Educational Benefit Field.” Please state that it is your Legacy Pre-Authorization ID (i.e., Legacy Pre-Authorization ID: xxxxxxxxx). Your Legacy Pre-Authorization ID can be found by logging in to the Legacy System, clicking on “Account Activity,” selecting the current school year and then clicking on the “Pre-Authorization Request” tab.
Ways to use your student's funds:
Direct payment for tuition and fees to an eligible, participating private school. If your student is “enrolled” in a private school through EMA, do not be alarmed if your student's available balance displays as $0.00. This is because your quarterly funds are reserved for your student's tuition and fees.
The school will need to submit an invoice within their EMA account to initiate payment. Once the school approves your student’s invoice, you will need to approve or deny quarterly scholarship payments in EMA before funds can be distributed to your student’s school. You will receive a notification when the invoice is ready for review.
Reimbursements for any approved services or items paid out-of-pocket, including tuition and fees, purchased after July 1, 2025, may be submitted in EMA. Pre-authorization requests should also be submitted in EMA.
(This new feature streamlines and quickens the reimbursement review process by helping eliminate some issues that would occur during reimbursement processing. For example: Items must be listed as individual line items when submitting a reimbursement request. A common delay in the processing of reimbursements was due to our Reimbursement team having to separate grouped items into their own line item when processing.)
Directly paid services to providers may be accessed within the Marketplace section in EMA. In the "Find Providers" section, families may search for services available to their students through approved providers. Through this function, services may be directly billed from the student's account, eliminating an out-of-pocket expense. Reminder: If your student’s Unique Abilities Scholarship is being used to directly pay tuition and fees to a private school, this is only available for remaining funds after paying for tuition and fees.
MyScholarShop (MSS), a one-stop online shopping experience for students with an education savings account (ESA) through Step Up For Students. To learn about MSS, click here.
Please note: It may take about a week for newly funded students to have MSS access. In the meantime, you may see a note directing you to contact an Admin. If you do not have access to MyScholarShop after one week of receiving funds, please contact us for support.