EMA Portal Step Up For Students: How to Navigate the Education Management Account

What the EMA Portal Is

The Education Management Account is Step Up For Students' digital platform for managing PEP and FES-UA scholarships. Everything runs through EMA: your initial application, document uploads, award acceptance, PEP Student Learning Plan submission, marketplace purchasing, reimbursement requests, and account balance tracking. FES-UA students submit a Student Learning Plan only when enrolled in an eligible hybrid private school and required to address the remaining instructional time.

If you chose Step Up For Students as your SFO (rather than AAA Scholarship Foundation, which operates its own Scholarship Management Platform), EMA is where you'll spend your administrative time for the life of the scholarship.

Setting Up Your Account

Account creation happens during the application process. You'll register with parent contact information, household address, and the number of students you're enrolling. Multi-child families manage all children under one household account — each child gets a separate student record and ESA balance within the same login.

After registration, you'll upload required documents, including Florida residency proof established with two different document types, student age documentation, Social Security numbers, and program-specific paperwork (IEP or diagnosis form for FES-UA, Student Learning Plan for PEP).

EMA uses the Odyssey eligibility engine to cross-check your child's state enrollment status. If a child is still showing as enrolled in a Florida public school in the state database, the system will flag it. Complete the formal district withdrawal before or immediately after accepting the award — and verify that the withdrawal is reflected in the portal by July 31 for Quarter 1 funding.

MyScholarShop and Marketplace Purchasing

MyScholarShop is the integrated vendor marketplace within EMA. Approved vendors — curriculum publishers, tutoring services, testing companies, and therapy providers — list their products and services for direct purchase.

When you buy through MyScholarShop, the transaction deducts directly from your child's ESA account balance. No out-of-pocket cost, no receipt submission, no reimbursement wait. This is the smoothest purchasing path.

The marketplace carries a range of vendors including popular homeschool curriculum providers, online learning platforms like Time4Learning, and for FES-UA families, clinical therapy providers set up for direct-pay arrangements.

Not every vendor is in the marketplace, though. Local tutors, small businesses, and independent providers usually require you to pay out of pocket and submit a reimbursement request.

Submitting Reimbursements

For purchases outside MyScholarShop, the reimbursement workflow in EMA requires:

1. Upload the receipt or invoice showing vendor name, transaction date, line-item description, amount, and the student's full legal name
2. Select the spending category that matches the purchase
3. Submit the claim

Step Up For Students says reimbursement requests may take up to 60 days to review and process after all required documentation is received. If a request is put on hold, that review period starts over when the requested information is received.

If the claim is placed "On Hold," you'll see the notification in the portal. You have 30 days to respond with corrected documentation. Missing that 30-day window results in automatic denial.

For 2026–27, eligible purchases must be made by June 30, 2027, and reimbursement requests must be submitted by July 31, 2027.

Checking Your Balance and Payment Schedule

Your student's ESA balance is visible in the portal and updates after each marketplace purchase, reimbursement disbursement, or quarterly funding deposit. For 2026–27, Step Up For Students receives PEP funds August 1 for renewals, September 1 for new students, then November 1, February 1, and April 1; funds are credited to student accounts within two weeks.

Watch for balance-cap warnings. PEP accounts cannot exceed $24,000 and FES-UA accounts cannot exceed $50,000. If your balance hits the cap, the state pauses further quarterly transfers until spending brings it below the threshold.

Getting Help

Step Up For Students' Parent Customer Engagement Center is reachable at (877) 735-7837. Live chat support is available through the EMA portal during business hours. For billing-specific issues or "On Hold" claims, starting with the portal's case submission system creates a documented trail for follow-up.

Our Florida FES-UA & PEP Scholarship Parent Guide walks through the portal workflows step by step, including the receipt formatting that prevents claims from landing on hold in the first place.

See more Florida guides →