Utah Fits All is about to send another round of scholarship money to waitlisted families, even as parents who already have awards describe both relief and friction: tuition that finally pencils out, reimbursements that take work, tighter spending rules after a state audit, and a Utah Supreme Court case that still hangs over the program.
Utah Education Fits All said on August 21 that Odyssey, the program manager, had reconciled a remaining scholarship-fund balance of $12.8 million and expected a second waitlist lottery by the end of the following week. Preference Level 3 — families at or below 300% of the federal poverty level — had 1,436 students still waiting; Preference Level 4 had 6,443. UEFA said remaining eligible Level 3 applicants should be awarded, with the lottery then moving to Level 4, and estimated about 2,000 or more additional scholarships. After those awards, the group said more than 20,000 students would be served this school year — nearly 6,000 more than last year — with more than 5,500 still expected to remain on the waitlist.
Who got money, and who is still waiting
Odyssey reported on June 17 that it had issued awards to more than 18,700 students for 2026–27 and that the waitlist still exceeded 8,800, including low-income families the program could not yet fund. KUTV reported a record 27,560 students applied, about 19,800 scholarships awarded in June, and a 90% renewal rate among returning recipients. The state funded the program at $120 million this year.
Statute sets the awards: up to $8,000 for a private-school student, $4,000 for a home-based student ages 5 to 11 as of September 1, and $6,000 for a home-based student ages 12 to 18. Funds go out in two equal payments, no later than July 31 and December 31 of the scholarship year. If applications exceed the appropriation, awards follow a set order: returning students, then siblings, then households at or below 300% of the federal poverty level, then a lottery of remaining eligible students.
Families who landed an award describe the money as the difference between staying put and pulling a child out. Carolyn of American Fork said her three children attend American Heritage School and that she took a job there to help cover tuition — and still could not close the gap until Utah Fits All scholarships arrived. “Although we still pay for a portion of our children’s tuition, with the scholarship we can afford the balance,” she wrote.
Jennifer of Salt Lake City said the scholarship arrived after she left a traveling job to stay home with two young sons, dropping the household to one income. The award, she said, let her son Liam stay in a small private-school class instead of losing that placement. “The UFA scholarship allowed him to continue at the school and not upend his stability and security at such a critical time.”
Lauren of Moab said two of her children are on the scholarship after her husband, who has terminal brain cancer, became disabled and unable to work. “With our now severely decreased income, we would not be able to continue to provide them with the learning opportunities they have had, if it weren’t for this scholarship,” she wrote, pointing to music lessons, ballet, and a Waldorf forest school for her younger daughter.
Robyn Bagley, executive director of Utah Education Fits All, told KUTV the waitlist is a funding problem, not an eligibility problem. “We want more money,” she said. “We would like to see that appropriation increase to meet the demand of these families.” UEFA has already flagged additional funding as its top priority for the next legislative session.
Reimbursements, spending rules, and an audit
Getting the award is not the same as spending it. The Utah State Board of Education turned day-to-day administration over to Odyssey on May 16, 2025, and as of October 27, 2025, board staff and Internal Audit no longer take parent complaints; questions go to Odyssey at help.ut@withodyssey.com or (385) 462-1338. Students cannot also be enrolled in a public LEA, the Statewide Online Education Program, or Carson Smith Scholarships while using Utah Fits All.
A program briefing to lawmakers, using data as of December 22, 2025, counted 117,219 reimbursements submitted, with a 71% approval rate on first submission and 1,286 appeals approved 78% of the time. At that point 15,608 students were funded — 52.5% in private school and 47.5% homeschooled — with 64% of spending on tuition, 18% on reimbursements, and 18% in the marketplace. One unnamed homeschool parent told Odyssey the marketplace and funds let the family add physical education, extracurriculars, and music lessons “that we wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.” Another said reimbursements from receipts outside the marketplace had gone through with “zero problems.”
The Office of the Utah State Auditor’s review of first-year, 2024–25 spending told a less tidy story. KUTV reported that auditors found most money went to legitimate educational expenses, primarily private-school tuition, but also flagged high-end electronics, a $6,021 specialized mountain bike, a commercial-grade trampoline of nearly $3,200, Peloton bikes, club sports fees, a $2,765 alphorn, Apple MacBooks costing more than $6,000, and 943 furniture purchases totaling more than $220,000. Many of those purchases were allowed under the rules then in force; lawmakers tightened limits for 2025–26, including a 20% cap on extracurricular and physical-education spending. Auditors recommended that the State Board of Education and Odyssey keep watching high-cost electronics and similar items.
Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-District 15, has pressed a different complaint: academic accountability. “If it’s so successful, they should take an end-of-year test,” she said. “I don’t think a portfolio is an accurate comparison to an end-of-year assessment.” KUTV reported the average scholarship at about $6,400, compared with an average weighted pupil unit of about $4,300 for public-school students.
The court case still hanging over families
The program continues while the Utah Supreme Court reviews Brown v. Labresh, a challenge led by the Utah Education Association. Bagley told the Deseret News that teachers unions “have a playbook” that starts in court, and that Utah’s third-party administrator and purchase-by-purchase review make the program more defensible than Arizona’s. “Here in Utah, there’s not a single expenditure that doesn’t have eyes on it, whether it’s $1.79 worth or $1,500,” she said.
Governor Spencer Cox signed the original bill, HB215, on January 28, 2023, after it passed the House 54–20 and the Senate 20–8, sponsored by Rep. Candice Pierucci and Sen. Kirk Cullimore. For families already using the money — and for the thousands still on the list — the next markers are Odyssey’s waitlist draw, whatever additional appropriation lawmakers consider in the coming session, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on whether the program stays.
