MESSAGE FROM SEPT. 28, 2022 AT 4:15 P.M. ET

As Hurricane Ian makes landfall, Step Up For Students remains committed to the safety of our employees while continuing to serve our families, schools and providers.

• Our Service Center phone lines are expected to remain operational throughout the storm. However, our online chat feature may be impacted pending storm severity. The “Online Chat” button on our site will change to “Email Us” if online chat is unavailable.

• Processing of FES-UA/FTC/FES-EO/Hope applications and of FES-UA/Reading reimbursement requests continue at this time; however, may be delayed if the Jacksonville area is impacted.

Welcome! Step Up For Students is excited to serve FES-UA and transitioning McKay students in the 2022-23 school year.

Due to a high number of families attempting to access their accounts during funding disbursements, FES-UA parents/guardians and providers may experience delays. If you receive an error message, please try again later.

REIMBURSEMENT NOTICE: In the last two weeks, 43,000 FES-UA reimbursement requests have been submitted as the 2021-22 reimbursement deadline overlapped with the 2022-23 Quarter 1 funding. This is the first time this overlap has occurred. This influx is three times the number of reimbursements we received at this time last year, and four times the number of requests submitted in a normal week, resulting in longer than usual processing times. We have allocated additional staff resources to assist with reimbursements and are processing requests as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience.

NEED TO SUBMIT/APPROVE A REIMBURSMENT REQUEST

For instructions on how to submit/approve a reimbursement request, please click here. An overview for approving payments can be found at timestamp 9:09 and an overview for submitting a reimbursement can be found at timestamp 9:40 within the video.

FUNDING UPDATE (as of Aug. 25, 2022)

FES-UA first quarter funds for the 2022-23 school year have been disbursed to student accounts for students who were in an Awarded or Eligible for Award status. Please monitor your email as communications are in the process of being distributed to FES-UA funded families.

Reminders:

• FES-UA funds are disbursed quarterly. At this time, only first quarter funds (25% of the student's award amount) have been added. 
• Your 2022-23 award amount can be found on your student's FES-UA eligibility letter. The eligibility letter is found on the "Scholarship Status" tab within your account. 
• To view your available balance or access your FES-UA Student ID Card, click on the "Account Activity" tab within your account.  
• Transitioning McKay students: Your student's available balance is reflecting properly; however, the award amount on your student's eligibility letter may not be reflecting properly, at this time. If the currently listed award amount is not accurate, you will be notified next week with your student's correct award amount.  

APPLICATION/"INTENT TO CONTINUE" NOTICE:

As you complete your application/"intent to continue," you will see a screen that asks you to add any students that you would like considered for a scholarship. Please note, on this screen, you should only add current McKay students or students with an eligible diagnosis that you would like considered for the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) program. For a list of eligible diagnosis, please click here.