Overview of Odyssey’s Marketplace and Reimbursement Approach
The Odyssey platform maintains individual digital wallets on the student level that ledger every purchase made across the platform, including via ecommerce marketplace, tuition processing, and reimbursements. Parents will be able to access both the marketplace and reimbursement submission page via your child’s digital wallet.
Marketplace
Odyssey prioritizes a parent friendly and marketplace-first approach when distributing state funds. In order to facilitate fast payment processing and fulfillment, Odyssey pre-approves eligible vendors and offerings before loading offerings into the marketplace. This ensures that all purchases are compliant with state law. Since items are pre-approved, once you purchase an item in the marketplace, it goes directly to fulfillment, without delay or need for secondary review. This also means that parents do not need to front any funds and there is no risk of not receiving your money back. Finally, the marketplace ensures that parents receive their goods and services in the fastest manner possible, and provides competitive pricing via vendor partnerships.
Odyssey’s marketplace is able to house thousands of unique vendors, ranging from big box retailers, like Amazon, to local service providers. We are able to onboard any vendor quickly to the marketplace, provided that they are eligible under state law. We have already published a link for providers to apply, and have received upwards of 550 applications in only a few weeks. These providers, when approved, will submit their offerings to the Odyssey marketplace via a unique state vendor portal.
Tuition
Under Section 53F-6-408(8)(a) of the Utah Code, a private school intending to receive scholarship funds is required to submit an application to the program manager in order to determine that the school is an eligible private school. For reference, please consult the definition of what constitutes a private school to see if your school will be eligible.
Once approved, students can select their school in the portal from a dropdown list of eligible schools. After a student balance is funded via their unique digital wallet, tuition payments can be made to an eligible school that has registered on Odyssey’s platform. Once you designate a tuition payment amount, that amount will be automatically deducted from the student’s balance in their digital wallet. This ensures that tuition payments are sent to approved private schools and that the transaction occurs seamlessly in a timely manner.
Due to the program provider transition, we recognize that some tuition payments may have been made for the upcoming school year prior to the Odyssey platform launch. In these situations, Odyssey will set up a one-time reimbursement process, provided that the tuition payment has been made to an approved school. Odyssey will continually update the list of approved schools in our FAQs. Moving forward, we ask that you wait until the Odyssey portal is launched before making additional tuition payments.
Tuition payments and reimbursements will not be made to non approved schools. Section 53F-6-401(20)(a) states tuition and fees of a qualifying provider is an eligible scholarship expense. If a school chooses not to apply to be an approved school or does not meet the legal requirements for an approved school, they will not be categorized as an approved school and tuition spent by parents will not be eligible for reimbursement. However, if a UFA student wishes to attend a non approved school they will not be prohibited from doing so, provided that school is not an LEA. If this is the case the student will be categorized as a home based learning student and still receive funds. Additionally, many institutions that are curriculum providers, online classes, and hybrid homeschool programs will still qualify as service providers and can be found on the marketplace.
Reimbursements
The Odyssey platform will also support reimbursements. We will utilize the utmost discretion in determining whether reimbursements meet an educational purpose. Below we have outlined what constitutes an acceptable reimbursable expense. Please note that we will maintain a different standard for purchases already made under the previous provider than what will be allowable on a going forward basis. There will be no preapproved reimbursements, each reimbursement must be individually submitted and reviewed by Odyssey to include purchases made from an eligible provider. We strongly encourage parents to utilize the marketplace for their purchases as it ensures the quickest and safest method of transacting.
We describe two reimbursement policies below. The first policy is for all reimbursements made from the program transition, January 1, 2025, to the marketplace opening on August 21st. The second policy will cover the 2025-2026 school year, starting from August 21st onwards, in tandem with marketplace launch.
The reimbursement portal is accessible via the Odyssey digital wallet and will open on August 21st, the same date as the Marketplace launch.
Reimbursement Policy for the Remainder of 2024-2025 School Year Funds (Ending August 20, 2025)
Parents may submit a reimbursement for a purchase made during the program transition, from January 1, 2025 through August 20, 2025. This reimbursement will be subject to Odyssey’s approval. Reimbursements will only be approved if the purchase is for an educational good or service, and if the student submitting the reimbursement has a remaining year one balance that covers the cost of the reimbursement requested. Proof must be submitted to justify why the purchase made constitutes an educational expense.
All reimbursement submissions for this time period must include:
- Vendor’s name
- Description of purchase
- Date of purchase
- Requested reimbursement amount
- Image of receipt, which includes:
- Price
- Name of the vendor
- Date of purchase
- Itemized cost of the item or service provided
- Explanation outlining the educational nature of the purchase
- Consent that this purchase was not already reimbursed by the previous provider
Any pending reimbursements at the time of the transition under the previous program provider must be submitted via a new reimbursement request through the Odyssey platform, once available.
All reimbursements for purchases made during this period of transition must be submitted by September 30, 2025 in order to be considered eligible for payment.
Reimbursement Policy for the 2025-2026 School Year Funds - Beginning August 21, 2025
This policy includes comprehensive guidance for reimbursable items in the Odyssey platform for purchases made on or after August 21, 2025. This guidance replaces any instructions or guidance from the previous provider on approving reimbursements. Items or services not explicitly included in the below categories will be available for purchase either directly in the Odyssey marketplace or via reimbursement through the “other” expenses category. Please note that the “other” category at the bottom of this list will maintain the highest scrutiny. If you wish to make a reimbursement under the “other category”, you are highly encouraged to first attempt to purchase this or a similar product within the marketplace. Purchases made in the marketplace are guaranteed to be accepted and fulfilled.
Ride Fees for a Fee-For-Service Transportation Provider
- Ride fees or fares for a fee-for-service transportation provider to transport students to and from a qualifying provider, not to exceed $750 in a given school year. In order to be eligible, the reimbursement submission must include the following:
- Vendor’s name/Service used for travel
- Date of purchase
- Date of travel
- Requested reimbursement amount
- Image of receipt which includes
- Name of the vendor
- Date of purchase
- Itemized cost of the item or service provided.
- Educational reason for travel
- Starting destination and ending destination (one of which must be a qualifying provider or approved private school)
Assessment Test Fees
- Test fees for assessments are reimbursable. In order to be eligible, the reimbursement submission must include the following:
- Vendor’s name/Assessment provider
- Date of purchase
- Date of assessment
- Requested reimbursement amount
- Image of receipt which includes
- Name of the vendor
- Date of purchase
- Itemized cost of the item or service provided.
- Explanation outlining the educational nature of the purchase
Internet Fees
- Fees associated with internet service to be used in the education of a student. Service period must occur during the time covered by the scholarship. In order to be eligible, the reimbursement submission must include the following:
- Vendor’s name/Internet service provider
- Date of purchase
- Dates of coverage
- Requested reimbursement amount
- Image of receipt which includes
- Name of the vendor
- Date of purchase
- Itemized cost of the item or service provided.
- Explanation outlining the educational nature of the purchase
Fees for Extracurricular Activities or Enrichment Classes
- Extracurricular activities or enrichment classes must be for an educational purpose. Examples of an educational purpose include admission fees to go to a museum, zoo, aquarium, or park. It could also include participation in a sports program, or participation in an educational day camp.
- In order to be eligible, the reimbursement submission must include the following:
- Vendor’s name
- Date of purchase
- Date(s) of Activity
- Description of Activity
- Requested reimbursement amount
- Image of receipt which includes
- Name of the vendor
- Date of purchase
- Itemized cost of the item or service provided.
- Explanation outlining the educational nature of the purchase
Other Educational Expenses
- Any product or service may be submitted under this category that is not categorized above and is subject to review by Odyssey. In order to be eligible, the reimbursement submission must include the following:
- Vendor’s name
- Vendor’s address
- Date of purchase
- Dates of services performed
- Requested reimbursement amount
- Image of receipt which includes
- Name of the vendor
- Date of purchase
- Itemized cost of the item or service provided.
- Explanation outlining the educational nature of the purchase
Odyssey reserves the right to deny any reimbursement request that does not align with program requirements, applicable law, or the intent of the scholarship. This includes, but is not limited to, expenses that fall outside of allowable categories, or lack sufficient documentation. Odyssey may update or revise reimbursement policies as needed to ensure compliance, safeguard funds, and respond to changing circumstances.
Legal Guidance for Purchasing Guidelines
Under Section 53F-6-408(8)(a) of the Utah Code, a private school intending to receive scholarship funds is required to submit an application to the program manager. The law requires Odyssey, as program manager, to collect necessary information to determine eligibility and authority to approve eligible schools. The law also requires a proactive vetting process that includes financial documentation, background checks, and detailed disclosures, particularly for schools with 150+ students. Using an application as a mechanism to collect this information is both reasonable and consistent with the statute. This approach also supports Odyssey’s duty to ensure compliance, operational integrity, and financial accountability as outlined in Section 53F-6-405(1)(a)(ii) and Section 53F-6-405(1)(a)(vi).
Odyssey’s reimbursement policy, as outlined above, is based on the law regarding scholarship expenses as defined in Section 53F-6-402(2), Section 53F-6-402(7), and Section 53F-6-402(20). The law gives the program manager discretion to determine expense eligibility and implement policies and procedures (as described above and according to Section 53F-6-405(1)(a)(v) and Section 53F-6-405(1)(m)). The statute also authorizes the program manager to reject non-educational expenses and reimbursements that do not meet statutory criteria as outlined by Section 53F-6-402(7)(c)-(d) and Section 53F-6-405(5)(a)(ii).