EMA (Education Market Assistant): an independent guide

Independent guide. Scholarship.Guide is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any scholarship funding organization or the Florida Department of Education. This site does not ask for your login or password.

EMA, short for Education Market Assistant, is Step Up For Students' online platform for Florida K-12 scholarships. Step Up For Students families use it to apply, enroll at a private school, pay providers, buy approved products and request reimbursements for FES-EO, FTC, FES-UA, PEP and existing New Worlds accounts. Its Marketplace has two parts: MyScholarShop for products and Find Providers for services. Only Step Up For Students uses EMA; AAA Scholarship Foundation families use its SMP, and Sunshine State Kids Foundation families use Odyssey.

What families do in EMA

• Apply and accept. Applications and award acceptance happen in EMA, at apply.stepupforstudents.org¹. A status of "Scholarship Choice Confirmed" means approved but not yet funded².
• Enroll at a private school. Give the school the Scholarship ID from the My Students tab; the school enrolls your child at the agreed tuition, and you confirm the enrollment in EMA².
• Approve tuition invoices. The school approves each invoice, then you do. Step Up For Students says payment is initiated within 7 business days of school and parent approval; up to 5 business days to arrive³.
• Request reimbursement for eligible things bought elsewhere. Review takes up to 60 days⁴ once your documents are complete, and 2026-27 requests are due by July 31, 2027⁴.

Which programs use EMA

Step Up For Students lists reimbursement in EMA for FTC, FES-EO, FES-UA and PEP⁵. Existing New Worlds Scholarship Accounts are direct pay only⁵, and the Transportation Stipend is paid as a one-time check, outside EMA⁵.

MyScholarShop vs Find Providers

MyScholarShop opens after the account is first funded. Step Up For Students gives two answers for how long that takes: within a few days (handbook) / ~7 business days (Help Center)¹¹. If an item isn't in MyScholarShop, it may still be eligible: buy it elsewhere and request reimbursement¹².

Find Providers is visible only inside EMA

Find Providers lives inside a signed-in family account, and Step Up For Students describes no public version⁷. Listings show services, locations, business description (up to 1,500 characters), service rate per activity and school tuition rate by location¹³. Providers cannot see other providers or families. When you reserve funds, you choose whether to share your contact details with the provider¹⁴. Scholarship.Guide can't show the Find Providers list; for other ways to find help, see finding providers.

Direct pay vs reimbursement

With direct pay, Step Up For Students pays the school, provider or vendor from the account: Find Providers (services), MyScholarShop (products) and private-school tuition invoices (dual approval)⁵. With reimbursement, you pay first and upload receipts, and Step Up For Students pays you back after review.

What a service invoice status means

• Pending (funds reserved; waiting for service)¹⁵
• In Process (service completed; invoice submitted)
• Approved (invoice accepted; payment pending)
• Paid (payment issued)
• Deleted (order removed before payment)
• Creating Invoice (temporary; usually resolves in a few business days)

Help in Spanish

Step Up For Students publishes Spanish how-to videos, including "Navegando MyScholarShop en EMA", "Cómo Crear una Cuenta EMA en Español" and "Cómo encontrar tu ID de Beca del Estudiante (Award ID) en EMA"¹⁶.

Related

• EMA login help
• FAQ: using EMA, SMP and Odyssey
• For providers: getting paid
• Step Up For Students profile
• Other platforms: AAA Scholarship Foundation's SMP and Odyssey (Sunshine State Kids Foundation)