TEFA for Dual Credit, Co-op Classes, Tutoring, Field Trips, and Exam Fees

Once parents get past the basics of TEFA eligibility and the application process, the next wave of questions is almost always about specific expense categories. Can you use the funds for dual credit courses at a community college? What about homeschool co-op fees? Are SAT prep and AP exam costs covered?

The answers depend on whether the expense falls within the approved categories under SB 2 and the adopted administrative rules — and whether the provider is a certified vendor on the Odyssey marketplace.

Dual Credit Courses

Dual credit courses — where a high school student earns college credit simultaneously — are an approved TEFA expense. The statute explicitly covers tuition and fees at higher education institutions and TEA-approved credential training programs.

The catch: the college or institution must be listed as an approved vendor on the Odyssey marketplace. Community colleges that have completed the Comptroller's vendor certification process can accept TEFA payments directly through the platform. If your target institution isn't listed yet, ask the Odyssey help desk about its eligibility and current onboarding steps.

TEFA funds can cover the tuition component of dual credit, not general college living expenses or application fees for programs unrelated to the student's current education.

Homeschool Co-op Classes

Co-op classes are where things get more complicated. Whether your co-op fees qualify depends on how the co-op is structured:

Covered: Co-op classes taught by an instructor who is a certified TEFA vendor — meaning they've passed the required background check and are listed on the Odyssey marketplace. The payment flows directly from the Odyssey wallet to the vendor.

Not covered: Parent-taught co-op sessions, because TEFA prohibits payments to parents or immediate family members for instructional services. If the co-op is run as a volunteer parent-rotation model, there's typically no fee to cover in the first place, but if parents do charge each other for teaching, TEFA funds can't be used.

Also not covered: Co-op fees that go to a general operating fund rather than to a specific certified vendor for instructional services. The Odyssey platform needs a vendor on the receiving end.

If your co-op has professional instructors who handle their own vendor certification, those specific class fees should qualify. The co-op itself doesn't need to be certified — the individual instructor does.

Tutoring

Academic tutoring from a state-approved vendor is explicitly covered. The tutor must be listed on the Odyssey marketplace and must have passed the required fingerprint background check.

Two constraints apply:

1. The tutor cannot be an immediate family member. You cannot pay your spouse, parent, or sibling to tutor your child using TEFA funds. This prohibition is absolute regardless of the family member's qualifications.

2. The tutoring must be academic in nature. Sports coaching, music lessons (unless part of a certified academic program), and recreational instruction generally don't qualify.

Commercial tutoring companies — both local and online platforms — can participate if they complete vendor certification. Check the Odyssey marketplace for currently approved tutoring providers in your area.

Field Trips

Field trips occupy a gray area. The statute does not explicitly list field trips as an approved expense category. What is covered is transportation service fees paid to approved transportation providers for travel to educational institutions.

In practice, this means:

• A bus service that transports your child to a private school or educational facility, if the service is a certified vendor, is likely covered
• A family road trip to a museum or historical site, even if educationally motivated, is not covered — recreational travel is explicitly prohibited
• Entry fees to educational venues are not addressed in the approved expense list unless the venue operates as a certified educational provider on the marketplace

If your co-op or learning group organizes field trips through a vendor that handles both transportation and educational programming, the vendor's fees may qualify. But out-of-pocket travel costs that you pay directly never qualify — TEFA eliminates all parent reimbursement.

SAT, ACT, AP, and IB Exam Fees

Testing and assessment fees are approved TEFA expenses. The statute covers national norm-referenced exams, Advanced Placement (AP) tests, SAT/ACT exams, and state industry credentialing assessments.

This is one of the more straightforward categories. If the testing organization is an approved vendor on the Odyssey marketplace (College Board, ACT Inc., or the relevant test administrator), you can pay the exam registration fee directly through the platform.

For homeschool students receiving the $2,000 annual award, SAT/ACT and AP exam fees are a practical use of funds — a single AP exam costs around $100, and SAT registration runs roughly $60–$70. A homeschool student taking several AP exams and the SAT could allocate several hundred dollars of their TEFA funds to testing alone.

Keep in mind that TEFA homeschool participants in grades 3–12 already have a separate annual testing obligation — a nationally norm-referenced assessment submitted to the CEAO (Odyssey). The SAT and ACT don't satisfy that requirement on their own; the norm-referenced test (Iowa Assessments, Stanford Achievement Test, TerraNova, or similar) is a distinct obligation.

The Vendor Certification Requirement Applies to Everything

Across all of these categories, one rule is constant: the money flows through the Odyssey marketplace to a certified vendor. You cannot pay out of pocket and request reimbursement. You cannot send a check to a co-op coordinator or a tutoring company that isn't listed on the platform.

Before planning your spending, search the Odyssey marketplace and the state Providers & Vendors page at https://educationfreedom.texas.gov/providers-vendors/ to confirm your intended provider is certified. If they're not listed, consult the Providers & Vendors page for certification information.

The TEFA Parent Guide includes a spending category reference card and a disbursement budget planner to help you allocate funds across dual credit, tutoring, testing, curriculum, and technology within the program's rules.

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