What does my PEP application status mean?

• EMA shows two statuses. One is for the application (is it complete and reviewed?) and one is for the scholarship (is the student eligible, and funded?).
• Pending Review means a new student was found eligible but may not be funded this year, because renewal students come first and space may be limited.
• Scholarship Choice Confirmed is not the same as Funded. Step Up says confirmed students have been approved but not yet funded.
• On Hold means Step Up needs more information or documents. Watch your email and EMA.
• Denied: the handbook says the reason will be in your EMA account.

Step Up’s FAQ lists these application statuses in EMA:

On Hold, in more detail. The handbook says there may be times when Step Up needs additional documentation to decide eligibility. “In this case, Step Up For Students will place the application on hold and notify the parent or guardian by email.” Check the email address on your EMA account, including spam folders.

The FAQ lists these scholarship statuses separately:

To find the status, the FAQ says to log in to EMA, go to My Students in the left menu, and find your student’s tile, where the status shows to the right of the chosen program.

Step Up’s FAQ says: “By law, Step Up For Students must give priority to eligible renewal students who received a PEP Scholarship during the previous school year. Then, new scholarships are provided on a first-come, first-served basis unless the student is seeking income prioritization.”

• Renewal vs. new. The handbook defines a renewal student as one funded for Quarter 4 for the same scholarship, whose scholarship was not revoked the prior year. Everyone else is new, including students who missed the renewal application and acceptance deadlines.
• The acceptance step. The FAQ says that to be considered, you must have selected the “Accept Scholarship” button on your 2026-27 application no later than May 31, 2026.
• Deadline exceptions don’t skip the line. The handbook says exceptions from the application deadline “do not automatically guarantee an scholarship choice confirmation and the application may go into a pending review status.”

The cap itself and the order of income priority are explained in is the PEP scholarship full? and PEP income limits and funding.

Pending Review and next year. The FAQ says that a student who doesn’t receive PEP funding for 2026–27, or declines it, “will be considered a New student for 2027-28, not a Renewal Student.”

Step Up says this status “simply confirms that they have been approved for their scholarship choice,” and that it “does not mean that your student has been funded for the selected school year.” Step Up sends confirmation emails on a rolling basis.

Two things happen between confirmed and funded:

• The public school crosscheck. The FAQ says only students who pass the crosscheck can be submitted to the Department of Education for possible funding. During it, each document is marked Cleared or Denied / No Response. The FAQ is direct that “Cleared” does not guarantee funding: final decisions come after DOE review and finance processing.
• The quarterly attestation. Beginning in 2026–27, families of confirmed students complete an attestation in EMA before each quarter. The timing of each deposit is on PEP payment dates for 2026–27.

If your child was in a home education program, Step Up’s FAQ asks families not to withdraw from home education until the PEP scholarship is funded. More on that in PEP and home education.

• Look in EMA first. The handbook says: “If the student is determined ineligible, the reason will be available on your EMA account.”
• Contact Step Up if it looks wrong. The FAQ says that if you feel a Denied status is not correct, contact Step Up “to ensure all qualifying information has been received.”
• Income priority isn’t re-reviewed this year. The FAQ says income-priority decisions use the information given when the application was first reviewed, and that reconsideration “is not available for the 2026-27 school year.”
• One application at a time. Florida law allows only one active scholarship application per student, so you can apply for a different scholarship once the student is denied or you decline a choice-confirmed scholarship.

Not getting a scholarship this year is different from losing one you had. For the reasons a funded scholarship can end, see can you lose the PEP scholarship?.

Step Up’s FAQ has a section on the 2026–27 PEP Scholarship Transfer Survey and other options for Pending Review students. Two answers from it:

• Switching to FES-UA. If your student is in Pending Review, the FAQ says to first decline the PEP application in EMA, then submit an FES-UA application in EMA by 5:00 p.m. ET on October 30, 2026. The application is then reviewed under FES-UA rules. See PEP vs FES-UA for how the two differ.
• Transfer to AAA. The FAQ says “only students currently in PEP Pending Review status are eligible for transfer consideration,” and that students already in Scholarship Choice Confirmed status are not.

Step Up’s pages describe these options for Step Up applicants only. Ask Step Up directly before declining anything, because the FAQ says declining makes the student a new applicant next year.