Utah Fits All Scholarship — A Guide for Homeschool Families
Utah Fits All is a state-funded education savings account that pays for approved education expenses for Utah K–12 students who are not enrolled in a public school. It was created by HB 215 (2023 General Session) and is set out in Utah Code Title 53F, Chapter 6, Part 4. The Utah State Board of Education contracts for the program, and Odyssey has been the program manager since May 16, 2025.
Overseen by
Utah State Board of Education, which contracts with the program manager and financial administrator (Utah Code 53F-6-401, 53F-6-404)
Administered by
Odyssey (program manager since May 16, 2025)
Amount per student, 2026–27
Up to $4,000 for home-based students ages 5–11 and $6,000 for ages 12–18 (age as of September 1); up to $8,000 for private school students (Utah Code 53F-6-402(2)(c))
Who is eligible / how awarded
Utah residents in K–12, age 5–18 on September 1, not enrolled in a public school (LEA) or the Carson Smith scholarships. When applications exceed funds, awards go in order: returning students, siblings, households at or below 300% of the federal poverty level, then lottery.
Application window / next dates
By statute: returning-student applications open March 1, new-student applications open April 1, and all applications close May 1. Portfolio or assessment for renewal is due May 31. For 2026–27, awards were issued June 16 and funds released July 15, 2026.
Legal status
A district court ruled the program unconstitutional on April 18, 2025. The program was not suspended, and the State's appeal is pending at the Utah Supreme Court. No Supreme Court decision had been issued as of September 17, 2026.
How Utah Fits All works for homeschool families
A parent applies through Odyssey for each child and each school year. A home-based student who was enrolled in a public school must be withdrawn from it. A student cannot be enrolled in a public school, a charter school, or the Statewide Online Education Program while receiving the scholarship.
Approved students get an account in the Odyssey Wallet. Families can buy from approved vendors in the Odyssey Marketplace, where Odyssey pays the vendor directly, or buy elsewhere and submit an itemized receipt and proof of payment for reimbursement.
To renew, a family must submit a portfolio of the student's learning or assessment results by May 31 and reapply each year. The 2026–27 program year runs July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. For 2026–27, Odyssey reported awards to more than 18,700 students and a waitlist of more than 8,800. Unspent funds roll over at two-thirds of the balance, capped at
,000.
What the money can pay for
Expenses must be incurred in the student's education. Parents cannot be paid for their own time teaching their own child. Odyssey's Eligible Expense Guide lists these categories:
Textbooks, curriculum, and other instructional materials
Educational software, apps, STEM kits, manipulatives, and art and school supplies
Tutoring, after-school and summer education programs, and fine arts instruction
Extracurricular activities and physical education, each limited to 20% of the award
Educational therapies: occupational, behavioral, physical, audiology, and speech-language
Computers, tablets, and printers up to
,500 each, with quantity caps
Tuition, course, registration, and exam fees, including technical college courses
Transportation to a qualifying provider, up to $750 per school year
Before you buy
Check whether the item is in the Odyssey Marketplace, where eligible products have already been reviewed.
For purchases outside the Marketplace, keep an itemized receipt and proof of completed payment. Cash and check purchases need a point-of-sale receipt.
Goods over
,000 get extra review. Reimbursement is limited to 10% above the price of a comparable Marketplace item.
Use the Eligibility Request tool in the Odyssey Wallet to get a preliminary review. It is not a final approval.
Spending before July 1 of the program year is not reimbursed, except for private school tuition and deposits.
General-purpose items that can be used for learning are not automatically eligible. Check Odyssey's Ineligible Expense Guide.
For vendors: becoming a Utah Fits All provider
Providers apply through Odyssey's vendor registration portal. Providers approved under the previous program manager had to reapply after Odyssey took over. A provider must have a federal EIN, comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and deliver its own services. Consultants, clearinghouses, and intermediaries are not eligible.
The application requires business details, a business license or equivalent (articles of incorporation, IRS EIN document, or W-9), professional licenses for services, and signed vendor attestations. Odyssey reviews both the provider and each offering it uploads. Approved providers appear on a public list, and a change of ownership requires reapproval. Private schools apply separately; for 2026–27, school applications ran from May 1 to June 1.
Homeschooling in Utah: the basics
To homeschool, a parent sends a one-time notice, such as a letter of intent, to the local school board of the district where the child lives. This applies when withdrawing a child from school or choosing not to enroll one. The board must record it and acknowledge it within 30 days. Families who filed a notice or affidavit on or before May 7, 2025 do not need to file again. (Utah Code 53G-6-204(3)–(5))
The parent alone chooses the instructional materials and textbooks, the time, place, and method of instruction, and how the instruction is evaluated. (Utah Code 53G-6-204(2)(a))
A school board may not require attendance or instruction records, teacher credentials, home inspections, or standardized or other testing of home school students. (Utah Code 53G-6-204(2)(b))
Home school students may dual-enroll in a public school for academic activities and may take part in extracurricular activities at their boundary school or the school they withdrew from. (Utah Code 53G-6-702, 53G-6-703)
Enrolling in a public school, including dual enrollment, makes a student ineligible for Utah Fits All while enrolled. (Utah Code 53F-6-401(8))
Where the court case stands
On April 18, 2025, a Salt Lake County district court ruled that Utah Fits All violates the Utah Constitution (Labresh et al. and Utah Education Association v. Cox, Third District Court case 240904193). The court did not stop the program while the State appeals.
The Utah Supreme Court agreed to hear the State's appeal, and the State filed its opening brief in January 2026. No Supreme Court decision had been issued as of September 17, 2026. Meanwhile the program continues: 2026–27 awards were issued June 16, 2026 and funds were released July 15, 2026.
A Supreme Court ruling could end or change the program. Check the official pages before you plan a year around it.
Sports, activities and public school classes
A home school student may take part in extracurricular activities at a public school (Utah Code 53G-6-703). The student takes part at the school whose attendance boundaries the custodial parent lives in, or at the school the student withdrew from to be home schooled. Another public school may also allow it if the student meets that school's eligibility and enrollment requirements; for athletic teams, that includes the association's initial-eligibility rules for grades 9 and 10. A student keeps the right to play at the boundary or former school as long as they didn't first establish eligibility at another school in grade 9 or 10.
The school applies the same eligibility standards it uses for fully enrolled students and may not add requirements just for home school students. Eligibility rules based on school attendance don't apply to a home school student. You pay the same participation fees as enrolled students. A mandatory student activity fee can be charged only if your student gets the same benefits from it as enrolled students. Where a team or group is chosen by tryouts, home school students may try out. (53G-6-703(3), (4), (15))
Grades: a home school student meets academic eligibility if the student is mastering the material in each course or subject and making satisfactory progress toward promotion. To show this, the parent, teacher or organization providing instruction submits an affidavit to the principal. The student then stays eligible for all activities that season, unless the person who signed the affidavit gives written notice otherwise or a review panel finds the student isn't eligible. A panel is formed only if someone files an affidavit showing probable cause. Its three members are appointed by the superintendent from nominees of home school organizations, and it reviews test scores or a portfolio of work. (53G-6-703(5)–(13))
Leaving public school: a student who was declared academically ineligible at a public school and then starts home school stays ineligible until the student shows eligibility with test results or a portfolio, and can't regain it in the same activity season. A student who leaves mid-semester or mid-season gets an interim academic assessment from the public school, and eligibility depends on meeting public school standards at the time of leaving. (53G-6-703(14), (16))
UHSAA rules: the 2026–27 UHSAA Handbook lets a home school student in grades 9–12 take part at a member high school when the home school doesn't offer the activity. The student takes part only at the member school where initial eligibility is established, or the school the student withdrew from to home school. A home school student establishes initial eligibility by being selected for a high school team; changing to a different member school later falls under UHSAA's transfer rule. The Handbook also says home school students must follow the State Board's dual enrollment rules and attend any classes the district high school requires for their sport, and it points to state law for home school academic eligibility. Ask the school's athletic director which classes, if any, your sport requires.
Public school classes: a parent may also enroll a home school student in a public school for dual enrollment. The student may take part in any academic activity open to students of that grade or age, under the same rules as full-time students (53G-6-702). Under State Board rule R277-438, the student enrolls at the resident school, which is the district school whose boundaries the custodial parent lives in; charter and online schools are not resident schools. Other public schools may accept a dual enrollment student at their discretion.
To join a course, activity or program that requires certain classes, the student either takes comparable courses or shows competency in those subjects to the school's satisfaction (R277-438-3). Dual enrollment students follow the same behavior rules as full-time students and the public school's scheduling (R277-438-5). Schools must waive participation fees for an eligible dual enrollment student whose parent provides the required fee-waiver documentation (R277-438-4).
Concurrent enrollment and college aid
Concurrent enrollment (CE) lets high school students earn credit toward high school graduation and at a Utah college at the same time. The State Board of Education and the Utah Board of Higher Education run it together (Utah Code 53E-10-302). An eligible student must be in grade 9, 10, 11 or 12, be enrolled in and counted in the average daily membership of a Utah public school, and have a plan for college and career readiness on file (53E-10-301(6)).
Home school students: the state's Concurrent Enrollment Handbook (revised June 2025) says a home-schooled student isn't allowed to enroll in CE as a home school student, but can become eligible by enrolling in a public high school and being counted in its daily membership. Ask your resident high school whether dual enrolling there would make your student eligible for CE, and how many classes that takes.
Cost: for the 2025–26 school year, the Handbook says colleges and universities were charging $5 per credit hour for CE courses. The law allows partial tuition of up to $30 per credit hour, but no more than $5 for students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch,
0 for a course taught by a high school teacher, and
5 for a course taught by college faculty through video conferencing. A student may take up to 30 CE credits per school year; a course that puts the total over 30 is charged at the college rate. Check the 2026–27 rate with the college.
Early college: USHE colleges use the term early college for programs where high school students pay the college's regular tuition and fees, and the credit is posted to a college transcript only. Ask the college whether it admits home school students this way and at what age.
Opportunity Scholarship: this state scholarship goes to eligible students at Utah colleges. The Utah Board of Higher Education sets eligibility by rule, including minimum high school academic standards and completing the FAFSA (Utah Code 53H-11-402). USHE lists these requirements for the Class of 2027: a 3.3 cumulative high school GPA; three advanced courses, one AP, IB or concurrent enrollment course in each of math, science and language arts; completing the FAFSA; and graduating from a Utah high school.
The Class of 2027 application window is January 5 to March 19, 2027, with a priority deadline of February 5, 2027. The maximum award for each graduating class depends on available funding. The Class of 2026 could receive up to $800 per semester for up to four semesters.
USHE's page doesn't say how home-schooled graduates qualify, and we found no official statement on it. Contact USHE's scholarship office (scholarships@ushe.edu) before junior year to ask how a home school transcript and graduation are treated.
Driver's licenses and special education
Driver's license: Utah won't license anyone 18 or younger who hasn't completed an approved driver training course. Applicants 17 or younger must also have held a learner permit for six months (Utah Code 53-3-204). A learner permit is available at 15. For applicants under 18, a parent or guardian signs for financial responsibility, and the applicant takes a 50-question written knowledge test and an eye test. The Driver License Division's permit page lists no school enrollment document.
Driver education: the Driver License Division says teens 15 to 18 can complete driver's ed through the local high school, a private/commercial school or an online home study school. Classroom time is 27 hours at a high school, 18 hours at a commercial school or 30 hours online, plus 6 hours behind the wheel. High schools also require 6 hours of observation, which Utah law doesn't require. Teens also complete 40 hours of practice driving, 10 of them after sunset. Out-of-state online or home study certificates aren't accepted. The page lists no parent-taught option.
Where school enrollment matters: a district that runs driver education must let students in grades 9–12 of regularly established private schools in the district take it at the most accessible public school (Utah Code 53G-10-504). That section doesn't name home schools, and State Board rule R277-438 defines home schools and private schools separately. A home school student can ask the district about dual enrolling in its driver education class (53G-6-702), or use a commercial or online home study school.
Special education: your school district must locate, identify and evaluate home-schooled students with disabilities who live in its boundaries, using procedures comparable to those for public school students (USBE Special Education Rules VI.D, June 2023). A parent must give permission before an initial evaluation or a reevaluation. If you don't consent or don't respond, the district can't use mediation or due process to override you and doesn't have to treat your child as eligible.
A student who is home schooled full time has no individual right to the special education services they would get in public school. The district makes the final decision on what services, if any, it provides. It may write a services plan, and it decides where and when any services happen.
Dual enrollment changes this. A student with a disability who is dual enrolled is entitled to special education and related services under an IEP for the time, or the number of courses, the student is enrolled in the public school, as the IEP team decides. The public school prepares the IEP before the student starts (R277-438-5(3); USBE Special Education Rules VI.D.8). Ask your district's special education office how to request an evaluation.
My Learning Source is an independent marketplace. We are not affiliated with the Utah State Board of Education, Odyssey, or the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program, and a listing here does not mean a vendor is an approved Utah Fits All provider.
As of September 2026.
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