How to use your Step Up For Students funds at Stingray Allstars

Step 1: Confirm your scholarship is active and funded

Before anything else, log in to your Step Up For Students account and check that your student's scholarship is awarded, accepted, and showing an available balance. Funds are disbursed on a schedule set by Step Up For Students, so an approved award is not the same thing as money you can spend today.

This matters because gym enrollment and scholarship funding move on completely different calendars. Class sessions and competitive team seasons at Stingray Allstars start when they start; a scholarship disbursement lands when the state and Step Up For Students release it. Families who check their balance first avoid the most common problem we see, which is committing to a season on the assumption that funds will arrive before the first payment is due.

Step 2: Check that the program you want is an eligible expense

Step Up For Students, not the gym, decides what counts as an eligible expense for your specific scholarship. Each scholarship program has its own purchasing guide, and those guides are the authority on whether a given class, team fee, or piece of equipment can be paid for with scholarship funds.

Read the purchasing guide for your scholarship before you enroll, and if you are unsure, ask Step Up For Students directly rather than guessing. We will never tell a family that an expense is covered when the decision is not ours to make. What we can tell you, accurately and quickly, is exactly what a program costs and what is included, so you have real numbers to check against your guide.

• •Physical education is one of the service categories Step Up For Students recognizes for approved direct service providers.
• •Eligibility can differ between scholarship programs, so a rule that applies to one family may not apply to yours.
• •Rules are updated between school years. Check the current-year guide, not last year's.

Step 3: Pick your program and get the real cost in writing

Call the gym at (954) 988-0488 or stop by and tell us which program you are looking at, whether that is a weekly tumbling class, our Rays Ready pre-team program, or a competitive team placement. We will confirm current pricing, session length, and what the fee does and does not include.

Our published pricing covers classes, clinics, open stunt and tumble, and Rays Ready. Competitive team pricing depends on the team and program, so that conversation happens on the phone or in the tryout packet. Either way, you leave with specific numbers, which is what the scholarship platform asks you for.

Step 4: Submit the payment or reimbursement through Step Up For Students

Scholarship spending happens inside the Step Up For Students platform. Depending on your scholarship and how a provider is configured, families generally either request that funds be paid to an approved provider directly, or pay out of pocket and submit a reimbursement request with an itemized receipt.

Ask us for an itemized receipt or invoice for anything you plan to submit. Reimbursement requests are commonly delayed or rejected over paperwork rather than eligibility, so a receipt that clearly shows the student's name, the service, the dates, and the amount is worth the two minutes it takes to request.

• •Have your student's name exactly as it appears on the scholarship account.
• •Ask for an itemized receipt or invoice, not a card slip.
• •Keep a copy of every submission and confirmation number.
• •Submit promptly; scholarship platforms enforce their own deadlines and funding windows.

Step 5: Enroll and start training

Once funding is sorted, enrollment is the same as it is for any other family. Weekly classes and open programs run through our iClassPro parent portal, and competitive team placement runs through an evaluation with our coaching staff.

Your athlete's experience in the gym is identical either way. Scholarship funding is a payment method, not a separate program, and we do not run a separate 'scholarship track.' Athletes train on the same floor, with the same coaches, on the same teams.

What to bring or have ready when you call

You do not need to bring scholarship paperwork to the gym to ask questions. But having these details on hand makes the first call faster and gets you an accurate answer instead of a maybe.

• •Which Step Up For Students scholarship your student holds.
• •Your student's age and any cheer or tumbling experience.
• •Which program you are interested in: classes, pre-team, or a competitive team.
• •Whether you plan to use direct payment or reimbursement.
• •Any deadline your scholarship funding window imposes.

Frequently asked questions