Hope Scholarship

Any public school student in Florida who was a victim of a qualifying incident at:

· A K-12 school.

· A school-related or school-sponsored program or activity.

· Was riding in a school bus or waiting at a school bus stop.

Qualifying incidents include:

 – Battery

– Harrassment

– Hazing

– Bullying

– Kidnapping

– Physical Attack

– Robbery

– Sexual offenses, harassment, assault or battery

– Threat or intimidation

– Fighting

Hope Scholarship applications are completed online when applications are being accepted. Please continue reading for important information you need to know before you apply:

• – The incident must have occurred on or after Aug. 1, 2018.

• – A report of an incident must be submitted to the school principal or his/her designee so the incident can be investigated.

• – Once the investigation is complete, or within 15 days after the incident was reported (whichever comes first), the principal or his/her designee must notify the parent about the Hope Scholarship and provide the parent with a fully completed Hope Scholarship Notification Form (Form IEPC-HS1). This form is required to be submitted with your online Hope Scholarship application so that Step Up For Students can determine scholarship eligibility.Please make sure all parts of the form are completed – by the principal or his/her designee. Submitting a form that is not fully completed will delay the processing of the application.

• – Applications are processed in the order they are received. Scholarships are awarded to eligible students on a first-come, first-served basis pending funding availability. Students who were on the Hope Scholarship the previous school year (renewal students) are given priority.

Families can choose one of the following:

– Financial assistance toward private school tuition and fees.

– Assistance with transportation to a public school in another school district.

For the private school option, Hope Scholarship award amounts are determined by the student’s grade level and the county in which the student lives in based on their scholarship application. The Hope Scholarship award amounts for the 2020-21 school year will be finalized once the Governor has signed the 2020 legislative bills. In the meantime, please click here to view the 2019-20 Hope Scholarship award chart.

Scholarship amounts may be prorated based on the following factors: date of award, date moved from the waitlist (if applicable), student’s first day of attendance, school’s first day or school’s date of compliance, whichever is latest.

The scholarship can be used towards the following school expenses, in this order until the maximum scholarship amount is reached:

1. 1. Tuition
2. 2. Books**
3. 3. Registration
4. 4. Transportation services that occur during school hours (e.g. transportation services to/from school or for field trips)
5. 5. Uniforms**
6. 6. Testing (e.g. standardized or entrance testing)
7. 7. Other fees (e.g. graduation fees, yearbook fees, field trips. Services before or after school hours such as aftercare or sports are not covered.)

** Applicable for books and uniforms sold by the school, not a third-party vendor.

If you would like to use the private school option, click here to find a school.

For the transportation scholarship option, families will receive up to $750 for the 2019-20 school year, to assist with the cost of transportation to an out-of-district public school. (The 2020-21 award amount will be finalized once the Governor has signed 2020 legislative bills.)

* The Hope Scholarship also allows students who are bullied to transfer to another in-district public school (with capacity) under the scholarship. Families do not need to apply to Step Up for this option but should work directly with their school district.

Step Up For Students only administers the private school and transportation options for the Hope Scholarship.

– Scholarship funding can be transferred to another eligible, participating private school if the student moves within the state or wants to attend a different eligible, participating private school. 

– Both the private school and transportation options have the same eligibility requirements. 

– The student will remain on scholarship (depending on available funding) until the student returns to public school or graduates from high school, whichever occurs first. 

– If using the private school option, checks are sent directly to the eligible private school where the child is enrolled. Schools will notify parents when checks have arrived, so they may come into sign the child’s check. 

– Detailed Hope Scholarship information can be found in the Hope Scholarship Parent Handbook 

The scholarship was created in 2018, by the Florida Legislature to give public school children in Florida relief from bullying and violence at school.