PEP Scholarship Eligibility and Priority Tiers in Florida

You've decided to apply for Florida's PEP scholarship, but the application portal asks about household income and mentions "priority tiers" without explaining what that means for your chances. With a statutory student cap and more families applying each year, understanding how PEP allocates its limited spots matters more than just meeting the basic eligibility criteria.

Basic PEP Eligibility Requirements

To qualify for the Personalized Education Program, your child must be:

• A Florida resident
• Eligible to enroll in Kindergarten through Grade 12
• Not enrolled full-time in a public school, charter school, or traditional private school. Approved hybrid private-school programs and part-time private classes have separate rules

That's it for baseline eligibility. PEP does not require prior public school attendance — a child who has always been homeschooled qualifies. There is no income cutoff that disqualifies you outright. And unlike FES-UA, PEP does not require a disability diagnosis.

The catch isn't eligibility. It's capacity.

The Student Cap: How Many Spots Exist

PEP operates under a statutory enrollment cap that increases each year:

For the 2026–27 year, 140,000 students can receive PEP funding statewide. During 2025–26, approximately 84,140 students were funded, so the cap isn't yet binding for most applicants. But when one SFO hits its capacity, things get complicated — during 2026–27, Step Up For Students reached its new-student capacity limit, sending late PEP applicants to AAA Scholarship Foundation instead.

Starting with 2027–28, the statutory cap transitions to full universal availability without an explicit student limit, subject to legislative appropriation.

How the Four Priority Tiers Work

When scholarship demand exceeds available slots, applications are processed according to statutory priority tiers — not first-come, first-served across the board. Here's the hierarchy:

Tier 1 — Highest Priority: Household income at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), or children in foster care or out-of-home care. Use the current federal poverty guidelines to determine the applicable household-income amount. Families in this tier are processed first within the statutory priority order.

Tier 2: Renewing students who participated during the previous school year. This protects families already in the program from losing their spot to new applicants.

Tier 3: Household income at or below 400% of the FPL, dependents of active-duty military members, dependents of law enforcement officers, and siblings of currently participating students living in the same household. Use the current federal poverty guidelines to determine the applicable household-income amount.

Tier 4 — Lowest Priority: All remaining eligible Florida residents, processed on a first-come, first-served basis within this tier.

The practical takeaway: if your family income is above 400% FPL and you're a first-time applicant, you're in Tier 4. You'll be funded only after higher-priority applicants under the statutory order. That means applying within the February 1–April 30 priority window matters significantly more for Tier 4 families.

What Happens if You're Waitlisted

If your SFO's allocated slots are full when your application is processed, you're placed on a waitlist. A few things to know:

• Spots open as other families decline their awards, withdraw, or fail to complete verification by required deadlines
• Ask your SFO how it processes waitlisted applicants once the April 30 priority window has closed
• Applications submitted after the April 30 priority deadline are processed on a space-available basis; contact your SFO about the processing order for late applications
• Mid-year enrollees who join during later application windows receive prorated funding based on remaining quarters

If one SFO is full but the other has capacity, ask the available SFO how to proceed. During 2026–27, new PEP applicants who couldn't get into Step Up For Students were directed to AAA Scholarship Foundation. Confirm with the SFO before keeping applications open at both organizations for the same student.

Timeline for the 2026–27 Application

Students awarded during the spring window receive five of the ten annual payment installments for that school year.

PEP vs. Staying Under §1002.41

Accepting PEP means trading your current legal status. You must file a Letter of Termination for your home education program with your county school district. You'll submit an annual Student Learning Plan and your child will take mandatory norm-referenced testing each year. The reward: approximately $7,600–$8,200 per student in ESA funds.

Whether that trade makes sense depends on your family. Our Florida FES-UA & PEP Scholarship Parent Guide includes the full legal comparison matrix and a decision framework for evaluating the tradeoff based on your specific situation — number of children, curriculum preferences, and comfort level with state reporting requirements.

See more Florida guides →