PEP Extracurricular Spending Cap: Florida's 25 Percent Rule Explained

You signed up for PEP to fund your child's education, and now you want to use scholarship money for swim lessons, martial arts, or a PE class at the local gym. Then you discover the 25% spending cap — but nobody explains what actually counts toward that limit or how to stay under it.

What the 25% Cap Covers

Florida's PEP scholarship restricts spending on physical education and extracurricular activities to 25% of the student's annual award. For a typical PEP award of $7,600–$8,200, that means $1,900–$2,050 maximum for the entire school year on anything the SFO classifies under this category.

Activities that count toward the 25% cap include:

• PE classes at gyms, YMCAs, or community recreation centers
• Swim lessons, martial arts, gymnastics, dance classes
• Team sports registration fees and league dues
• Music lessons and instrument instruction
• Art classes and fine arts programs
• Field day programs and organized athletics

Activities that generally do not count toward the cap:

• Core academic tutoring
• Online learning platforms and curriculum subscriptions
• Standardized testing fees
• Textbooks and workbooks

The distinction matters because some programs blend academic and physical components. A nature-based science program with outdoor activities might be classified as curriculum (uncapped) or extracurricular (capped) depending on how the provider describes it in the marketplace or invoice.

Pre-Approval Is Required

Before spending on extracurricular activities, PEP participants must submit a pre-approval request through the SFO portal. Get the activity approved before purchase, then follow the portal's instructions for the permitted payment method and any reimbursement claim.

The pre-approval process checks two things:

1. Whether the specific activity falls within PEP's approved expenditure categories
2. Whether your accumulated extracurricular spending for the current program year still has room under the 25% limit

If you submit a reimbursement request for an extracurricular activity without prior pre-approval, expect a rejection.

How FES-UA Handles This Differently

FES-UA does not apply the same rigid 25% extracurricular cap. Spending on enrichment activities for FES-UA students is tied to the student's documented medical or educational diagnosis rather than a blanket percentage limit. Confirm with the SFO whether a specific enrichment activity qualifies.

This is one of the meaningful differences between the two programs for families whose children qualify for both. A child with autism on FES-UA could spend a larger portion of their award on therapeutic recreation programs without hitting a percentage ceiling.

Strategies for Staying Under the Cap

Confirm how mixed activities are classified. If a program has both academic and physical components, ask the SFO which category applies before purchase; don't assume the provider's listing determines whether it counts toward the cap.

Track spending quarterly. With awards disbursed across four quarters, your 25% budget isn't all available at once. Divide your extracurricular cap by four to set a rough quarterly limit so you don't exhaust the allowance before spring.

Use direct marketplace vendors. Purchasing through approved vendors on MyScholarShop or the SFO marketplace automatically deducts from the correct category and shows remaining cap room in your portal dashboard. Out-of-pocket reimbursements for extracurricular activities carry more rejection risk.

For the full breakdown of what PEP covers versus what FES-UA covers — and a category-by-category spending comparison — see our Florida FES-UA & PEP Scholarship Parent Guide.

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