The gate: Approval under the Utah Fits All scholarship, administered through Odyssey
What the rules actually say
“All questions, concerns, or complaints must go to Odyssey as the transition period from program manager (ACE) to program manager (ODYSSEY) is complete.”
— USBE — Utah Fits All
The sequence, in order
1. Form your legal entity + EIN. Register as an LLC or nonprofit and get an EIN; Odyssey needs banking/payee details. A school owned/run solely by a scholarship student’s own parent, or acting as a pass-through, is ineligible.
2. Secure a compliant physical location. Operate from a physical location meeting local municipal zoning, fire, and health/building codes (these are local, not USBE, requirements).
3. Adopt a written tuition & fee policy. Set tuition/fees inside the Odyssey portal.
4. Plan background checks (required at 150+ students). At 150+ enrolled students, non-licensed and contract staff need nationwide fingerprint checks with ongoing monitoring (Utah Code 53G-11-402). Smaller microschools should adopt this as best practice.
5. Apply as a UFA Approved Private School on Odyssey. Apply via Odyssey during the annual window; approval is at Odyssey’s discretion. Utah recently moved from ClassWallet/ACE to Odyssey — confirm the current application window.
6. Set tuition, confirm enrollments & get paid. Once approved, confirm each student’s enrollment and enter tuition/fees so families pay you through Odyssey.
Where founders actually stall
Utah changed program manager, so a lot of the guidance founders find online refers to the previous administrator and is simply wrong now.
What we have not verified
Whether any provider approvals granted under the previous manager carry over unchanged.
We would rather say this than guess. Everything above that is stated as fact carries a link to the primary source, so you can check us.
Sources
Get set up in Utah
Get set up in Utah
Utah has no pre-approval step before funding, which makes it one of the lighter states to set up in. Both options are one-time. We never take a cut of your tuition.
Launch Kit · $950. Your Utah playbook: every step in the right order, the document each one needs, and the operator tools (roster, attendance, tuition billing, evidence vault). You do the filing.
Get the Launch Kit · $950
Concierge · $1,995. Everything in the Launch Kit, plus we do the ESA-vendor registration with you in a working session, inside Utah’s own platform.
Get Concierge · $1,995
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Free: the Utah starter checklist
Free: the Utah microschool starter checklist
Where to begin, what your state requires, and how funding works. No fluff.