ESA program statistics (July 2026)
Award amounts, enrollment, and payment rails for every US Education Savings Account program — the provider-side numbers, with sources.
Updated July 2026. Figures come from official program sources linked below; verify before relying on them.
18
states with ESA programs paying private vendors
9
universal or near-universal programs
$1B
Texas TEFA appropriation — the largest first-year school-choice program in US history (Texas Comptroller)
3
payment rails move nearly all the money: ClassWallet, Odyssey, Step Up
All 18 ESA programs, side by side
| State | Program | Award | Enrollment | Rail | Universal? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) | $2,000 homeschool · ~$10,474 private school · up to $30,000 disability | 102,000+ students awarded; ~73,000 accounts funded July 1, 2026 (~145,000 waitlisted) | Odyssey | Yes | official |
| Arizona | Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) | ~$7,000–$32,000/student (varies by student need) | ~92,000 students (Sept 2025) | ClassWallet | Yes | official |
| Florida | Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) | ~$8,000/student (varies; higher for unique abilities) | the largest ESA ecosystem in the country | Step Up For Students | Yes | official |
| Iowa | Students First Education Savings Accounts (ESA) | ~$7,800/student | ~27,900 students | Odyssey | Yes | official |
| Utah | Utah Fits All Scholarship (UFA) | ~$8,000/student | near-universal eligibility | ClassWallet | Yes | official |
| Arkansas | Children's Educational Freedom Account (EFA) | ~$6,800/student | phasing to universal | ClassWallet | Yes | official |
| Tennessee | Education Freedom Scholarship (EFS) | ~$7,300/student | expanding statewide | ClassWallet | Yes | official |
| West Virginia | Hope Scholarship | ~$5,000/student | universal eligibility | ClassWallet | Yes | official |
| North Carolina | Education Student Accounts (ESA+) | ~$9,000–$17,000/student (by need) | for students with disabilities | ClassWallet | No | official |
| Indiana | Education Scholarship Account (ESA) | ~$8,000/student | for eligible students | ClassWallet | No | official |
| New Hampshire | Education Freedom Account (EFA) | ~$5,000/student | income-eligible families | ClassWallet | No | official |
| Ohio | Afterschool Child Enrichment (ACE) | ~$1,000/student (enrichment) | income-eligible families | Merit (Other) | No | official |
| Georgia | Georgia Promise Scholarship | $6,500/student (disbursed quarterly) | launched 2025-2026; funding supports roughly 21,000 scholarships | Odyssey | No | official |
| Alabama | CHOOSE Act | $7,000/student at a participating school; $2,000 home-education (max $4,000/family) | ~49,000 applications for 2026-2027 (record) | ClassWallet | No | official |
| Louisiana | LA GATOR Scholarship Program | ~$5,200–$15,300/student by need (avg ~$7,250) | ~6,000 funded in year one (2025-2026) | Odyssey | No | official |
| Wyoming | Wyoming Education Savings Account Program (ESA) | $7,000/student (deposited in equal quarterly installments) | launching 2025-2026 (after 2025 litigation; injunction lifted) | Odyssey | Yes | official |
| Missouri | Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (MOScholars) | up to $6,375/student (2025-2026) | ~2,700 students, expanding toward 10,000+ with $50M in new funding | Odyssey | No | official |
| South Carolina | Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) | $7,634/student (2026-2027), paid in 4 quarterly installments | at its 15,000-student cap for 2026-2027 (new applicants waitlisted) | ClassWallet | No | official |
The numbers providers actually feel
- According to the Texas Comptroller, TEFA received applications for 200,000+ students before its March 2026 deadline and funded ~73,000 accounts on July 1, 2026 — while only ~2,400 vendors were listed in the marketplace at launch.
- ClassWallet deducts a ~2.5% vendor service fee from each payout (ClassWallet vendor documentation) — a provider billing $3,000/mo of ESA revenue pays ~$75/mo in rail fees alone.
- Florida FES-UA reimbursement reviews can take up to 60 days, and the clock restarts if a request is placed on hold for missing documentation (Step Up For Students FAQ).
- Documentation errors — not program processing speed — are the main provider-controllable cause of late ESA payments: a returned invoice re-enters the back of the review queue.
Selling into one of these programs?
Get the per-state registration steps, invoice rules and deadlines — and the tools that keep your payments from bouncing.
Find your state →FAQ
How many states have ESA programs in 2026?
18 states run Education Savings Account programs that pay approved private vendors, 9 of them universal or near-universal. The largest are Florida (Step Up For Students), Arizona (~92,000 students) and Texas (102,000+ students awarded in its 2026 launch).
How big is the Texas TEFA program?
Texas Education Freedom Accounts is the largest first-year school-choice program in US history: a $1B appropriation, 102,000+ students awarded, ~73,000 accounts funded on July 1, 2026, and roughly 145,000 students waitlisted (source: Texas Comptroller).
How much are ESA awards worth?
Typical base awards run ~$7,000–$10,500 per student per year, with much higher awards for students with disabilities (up to $30,000 in Texas, ~$32,000 in Arizona). Exact amounts are set by each program annually.
Which payment platforms move ESA money?
Three rails handle nearly all ESA vendor payments: ClassWallet (Arizona and most others), Odyssey (Texas, Iowa and more), and Step Up For Students (Florida).
Sources
- Texas Comptroller TEFA press releases (June 10 & June 30, 2026) and educationfreedom.texas.gov funding timelines
- Official state program pages linked per row in the table above
- ClassWallet, Odyssey and Step Up For Students vendor documentation