Using Step Up For Students (FES-UA) for an AAC app

If your child has a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities, AAC is often reimbursable as assistive technology. You pay first, submit the receipt in EMA, and the money comes back to you from your child's scholarship account.

What FES-UA is

The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities, usually shortened to FES-UA, is Florida's education savings account for students with certain disabilities, administered by Step Up For Students. Instead of paying a school directly, the family gets an account they can spend on approved categories: tuition, curriculum, therapies, tutoring, and assistive technology.

That last category is the relevant one. Technology that helps a student access instruction and instructional content is an eligible use, and AAC sits squarely in what assistive technology means.

How the reimbursement actually works

This is the part that trips families up, because it runs the opposite way to how people expect. Nobody bills Step Up on your behalf.

1. You pay first. Subscribe at the regular price with your own money.
2. Keep two separate documents. An itemised receipt showing what you bought, and proof that you paid. These are treated as two different things, and requests get held up when families submit only one.
3. Submit in EMA. Log into your EMA account and file a reimbursement request against the student, uploading the files. They're usually accepted as PDF, PNG or JPG.
4. Make sure your payment method is set up. There's a payment method section in your EMA profile. If it isn't filled in, there's nowhere to send the money.
5. Wait a few weeks. Reimbursements are typically processed in around two to four weeks.

Where to get BublTalk's receipt

Apple emails a receipt after each subscription charge. You can also find your purchase history in the App Store: tap your account picture, then Purchase History, and open the entry. That gives you an itemised record showing the app name and amount.

If you need anything from us for a submission, email hello@bubltalk.com and we'll help. We've walked families through this before.

Being honest about what we can promise

We can't promise your reimbursement will be approved. Step Up reviews each request against their current guidelines, guidelines change between school years, and the decision is entirely theirs. What we can tell you is that assistive technology is an eligible category and that families do get AAC reimbursed this way.

Before you count on it, check the current FES-UA guidance or ask Step Up directly. The published purchasing guide and family handbook are the authoritative sources, not us.

If you don't have FES-UA

Reimbursement isn't the only route. Insurance, Medicaid, school district funding and other state programmes all cover AAC in some circumstances, and we've mapped those out in How to pay for AAC.

And if money is simply tight right now, ask us. There's a scholarship on this site for any family, anywhere, with no documentation required.

Common questions

Can Step Up For Students pay for an AAC app?

Assistive technology that helps a student access instruction is an eligible category under the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities. AAC apps are commonly submitted under that category. Step Up reviews each request, so approval is never guaranteed in advance, and you should confirm with Step Up before relying on it.

How does FES-UA reimbursement work?

You pay out of pocket first, keep the itemised receipt and separate proof of payment, then submit a reimbursement request in your EMA account. Reimbursements are typically processed within a few weeks.

What documents does Step Up need for a reimbursement?

Generally an itemised receipt showing what was purchased, proof of payment as a separate document, and details that match the student's name on the scholarship account. Files are usually uploaded as PDF, PNG or JPG.