State Scholarships
Lakeland Christian School accepts Florida School Choice Scholarships. If you’re interested in participating in one of these programs through LCS, please review the information below.
Scholarship Opportunities
LCS accepts funds from the following scholarship programs:
- Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (K5-12th Grade)
- Family Empowerment Scholarship – Education Options (K5-12th Grade)
- Family Empowerment Scholarship – Unique Abilities (K4-12th Grade)
- HOPE Scholarship (K5-12th Grade)
You can find out more information about these scholarship programs on the Step Up for Students website.
2023-24 scholarship award Information
Apply for the Step Up for Students Education Market Assistant: You can now apply for the scholarship at https://apply.stepupforstudents.org. When applying, please follow the Family Empowerment Scholarship – Education Options.
Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA)
The bill also works to increase the number of families qualifying to participate in the FES-UA program and expands the authorized use of program funds. This scholarship is provided to students who qualify for additional learning and medical accommodations. More information about this program can be found at https://www.stepupforstudents.org/scholarships/unique-abilities/.
Contact the LCS Business Office at 863.688.2771 with any questions.
Step Up no longer issues electronic award letters for the 2023/24 school year. Once you have been awarded, you must forward a screenshot of the Student Details screen of the My Students tab of your EMA account and email this to the LCS Business Office. The screenshot should have the following information clearly visible:
- Student Name
- Student ID #
- Scholarship Award ID#
- Scholarship Status of Awarded
- Scholarship Award Amount*
Please send all award screenshots and notifications to ddelegge@lcsonline.org.
Once we have received your scholarship screenshot, we will go through the process of enrolling your student in the scholarship program through Lakeland Christian School. This process may take a few weeks as we are working through enrolling all our awarded LCS families.
When LCS has completed enrolling your student in the scholarship program, you will receive an email from Step Up for Students (SUFS) asking you to approve this enrollment by the school. You must complete this step as this is how the scholarship funds will be directed to Lakeland Christian School.
The Scholarship & Your LCS Payment Plan
Once we complete your scholarship enrollment, we will begin finalizing payment plans. You will see two payment plans populated on your FACTS account.
- The first plan will be what you owe out of pocket for the school year. (Your out-of-pocket Amount is based on tuition less any discounts, aid, and/or scholarships). The payments will be scheduled based on the payment plan you selected during re-enrollment and automatically paid from the bank account or credit card you have on file with the school.
- A second plan will be created to track the scholarship claim payments from Step Up. We expect to receive four equal scholarship payments from Step Up throughout the school year.
Finalizing payment plans may take a few weeks due to the number of families using these scholarship programs. We request your patience while working through the enrollment and payment plan process. If your payment plan has already been finalized for next school year and/or you have already begun making payments, any adjustments will be made once we create the second plan on your account, and overpayments will be processed accordingly.
*If your scholarship funding level or eligibility changes during the school year, it is your responsibility to pay any balance due on your account to LCS*
Step Up for Students distributes the scholarship payments quarterly to the school through an electronic claims process. The first distribution of this scholarship payment will be in late August. We are still waiting for final communication from Step Up on what exactly this process will look like. You can expect further contact from us as more details become available.