What the PEP scholarship actually covers in Florida
Florida's Personalized Education Program (PEP) puts scholarship money into an education savings account you direct yourself. The question every family asks first is the practical one: what can I actually spend it on?
Here is the list Step Up For Students publishes.
Approved expense categories
- Instructional materials — curriculum, books, learning resources
- Private school tuition and fees — including part-time and hybrid enrolment
- Home education instructional programs
- Full-time private tutoring programs
- Part-time tutoring and Choice Navigator services
- Approved online or virtual providers
- Florida Virtual School (private-pay)
- Dual enrollment courses
- Postsecondary institution tuition and fees
- FLDOE-approved pre-apprenticeship programs
- Standardized testing fees, including test proctoring and administration
- Public school or district contracted services
What this means in practice
Two things surprise families most.
Part-time counts. You do not have to choose between homeschooling and a school building. Part-time and hybrid enrolment is an approved use, which is what makes two-day-a-week microschools and university-model programs workable.
Testing is covered. Not just the test — proctoring and administration too. If you are paying an evaluator out of pocket for annual assessment, check whether that is an eligible expense in your case.
The part nobody tells you
An approved category is not the same as an approved purchase. Whether a specific provider or product qualifies depends on the rules in force when you spend, and those are set by Step Up For Students, not by the provider selling to you.
Ask any provider directly: are you set up to accept PEP funds, and have families been reimbursed for this exact service? A provider who cannot answer that clearly is a provider who will cost you a reimbursement dispute later.
Finding providers
Our Florida directory records which scholarship programs each provider says they accept. We record what providers tell us and where we read it — we do not certify anyone, and a listing is not proof of eligibility. It is a starting point for the conversation above, not a substitute for it.
Last checked: August 2026.