A Guided Walkthrough on Applying for an Empowerment Scholarship Account in Arizona
- bnspofford
- Feb 6
- 2 min read
First, you can verify if your child is eligible to receive funds towards her education here: https://www.azed.gov/esa/eligibility-requirements . You’ll find lots of different circumstances that may apply to you (active duty military families, poorly rated school districts, students with disabilities, etc.), but most will fit in the category at the top, Universal students grades K-12. Click the appropriate drop-down, and you’ll see a short list of required documents – at the minimum you’ll need the student’s birth certificate and proof of residency. When you have those documents ready, the application link at the top will take you to https://www.azed.gov/esa to create your account. Here, you will provide your basic info (name and email) as the parent. Once your parent portal account is created, you will be able to fill out the online application form. The form is submitted online, so your documents will need to be available digitally (i.e. scanning and uploading the file).
Applications typically take about 30 days to be approved. It may feel like a long wait because all that’s left after your approval is to sign the contract which outlines the funding of the account including how the funds may be used. You are free to use the funds for curricula, online classes, private school tuition, tutoring, museum or zoo passes, sports fees, and more, but all expenses must be documented. Always check the current year’s Parent Handbook for details on what is allowed, what is required of you, and how to actually pay for your child’s expenses. You’ll want to familiarize yourself with it before your account is even funded. You’ll find additional ESA info here https://www.azed.gov/esa/esa-support and the Parent Handbook is here https://www.azed.gov/esa/parent-handbook . Between those two links, you should find any answers you need.
ESA accounts are funded quarterly, so you will begin receiving funds for the quarter during which your contract was signed. For example, my children’s ESA contracts were signed in September 2022, so they received Q1 and Q2 disbursements when their accounts were funded in October. The accounts are managed through a third-party vendor, ClassWallet. Whatever funds that aren’t spent will remain in the student’s account until they are used or the child ages out of the program at graduation (or 22 for students with disabilities). Once graduating, the student will “Exit” the program meaning funds will no longer be disbursed into the student’s account, but he may enter an “Exit Contract” in order to access remaining funds for 1 year from signing. These funds could be used towards community colleges, universities, and other allowed expenses.
Below you'll find a concise FAQ-type guide with helpful information.
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