Texas TEFA Private School Refund Policy Comparison 2026

By The School Choice Index Editorial Team Last verified: August 8, 2026 · Dataset version 1.0 · Covers the 2026–27 school year

---

Here's the Texas TEFA private school refund policy comparison 2026 families keep asking for, and the short version is not what most people expect. If your child leaves a TEFA private school, TEFA money does not come back to your bank account. An eligible refund goes back through Odyssey to the child's TEFA account while the child remains in the program. If the account closes, money left returns to the state. Not as a check. That's a state rule, not something your school decided.

Then there's the part that catches people. Sending the state's money back does not cancel what you owe the school. Your enrollment contract is a separate agreement, and many contracts can commit you to the full year. Leave the TEFA program in November — or move to a school that does not participate — on a full, non-prorated standard $10,474 award, and the last $5,237 of state money never arrives while the bill can still be for all twelve months.

What changes that answer: the month you leave, whether you transfer to another TEFA school instead of quitting, what your specific contract says, how much TEFA money the school must return for services not provided in full, and whether your school has an escape clause. Some do. We found one that's worded in a way that could save a struggling family thousands.

We'll show you all of it.

---

The two kinds of money, side by side

The numbers that matter

• $10,474 — full, non-prorated standard 2026–27 private-school award per child
• $2,618.50 — scheduled July 1, 2026 · $2,618.50 — scheduled October 1, 2026 · $5,237 — scheduled February 1, 2027
• Application window closed — February 4 through March 31, 2026; this page covers current 2026–27 withdrawal decisions
• $0 — TEFA money that can be refunded straight to a parent's personal account
• 8 school organizations with published 2026–27 withdrawal terms, compared below
• 3 of those 8 had a TEFA date or funding statement on their own website that did not match the current state schedule
• Use your portal amount — students awarded from the waitlist after July 15 may receive a prorated award

---

The one thing that trips up almost every family

Answer capsule: Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) is the state's education savings account program, which puts public funds into an account families can spend on private school tuition and other approved costs. TEFA rules control where program money goes when a student leaves. A family's private enrollment contract separately controls what the family owes the school. These are two different systems, and neither one overrides the other.

Almost every parent we've seen ask about this makes the same reasonable assumption. They think "refund" means one thing.

It means two.

Picture two lanes running side by side.

Lane one is state money. The Texas Comptroller sends your award to Odyssey — Odyssey is the certified educational assistance organization, or CEAO, which is a fancy way of saying it's the company the state hired to run the accounts. You direct payments from your account to your school. If your child leaves and money needs to come back, it travels back up that same lane. It never hops lanes into your checking account.

Lane two is your money. Your deposit. The registration fee. Any tuition you paid yourself. What happens to that money is governed by the piece of paper you signed in the spring.

There is one more split inside lane one. Texas rules require a provider to return program money for services that were not provided in full. The school tells Odyssey the refund amount. The public rules we reviewed do not publish one statewide proration formula for every school and every fee.

Odyssey put the destination about as plainly as an administrator ever puts anything. In its refund policy published August 6, 2026, it tells schools that any TEFA refund has to go through Odyssey, and that everything else gets worked out between the family and the school.

Read that second half again. Everything else gets worked out between the family and the school. The school sends the state's money back through Odyssey, and the private contract is handled separately.

That's the whole ballgame, and it's why this page exists.

Why this confuses so many parents: the word "refund" gets used for both lanes. A school can honestly tell you "we returned the TEFA funds" and also honestly send you a bill for the rest of the year. Both statements can be true at the same time. That's not automatically a school being sneaky. That's two rulebooks that were never written to talk to each other.

Primary sources: Odyssey's TEFA Tuition Refund Policy · Texas's adopted TEFA rules

---

Texas TEFA private school refund policy comparison 2026: which contracts put families most at risk?

Answer capsule: There is no standard withdrawal contract across Texas private schools participating in TEFA. Published 2026–27 terms range from a bounded formula of roughly one month of tuition plus a 10% fee, to policies stating that 100% of annual tuition remains due after a set date. The table below compares eight school organizations on both financial exposure and how much of their policy is publicly visible.

We went and read the actual documents. Not summaries. The tuition pages, the withdrawal forms, the financial policies these schools publish themselves.

Here's what we need you to know before you read the table.

This is eight organizations, not all of Texas. The state's participating-school workbook held 2,786 school and campus records when we counted it on August 8, 2026. The eight organizations below cover nine of those records, because Southwest Christian School runs two participating campuses. We picked schools that publish enough detail to compare responsibly. That means this sample leans toward schools with more transparent websites. It is not a random sample and it does not tell you what's typical statewide. We're expanding it. Version 1.0 is version 1.0.

And we score two separate things. How much money you could be on the hook for, and how much of the policy you can actually see before you sign. A school can be strict and completely upfront about it. That combination is honestly the easiest one to plan around.

The comparison

Every row was checked against the school's own published 2026–27 material on August 8, 2026. These are summaries, not substitutes for the contract you signed.

How to read those bands

"Higher" doesn't mean bad school. Full-year contracts exist because schools sign teacher contracts in the spring based on who committed. Cornerstone says exactly that on its own page. It's a real reason, not a shakedown.

"Lower" doesn't mean free. Redeemer still has a non-refundable July payment and a 10% fee on top of the month you leave.

"Unclear" doesn't mean no policy. It means we couldn't reproduce the full formula from public documents. The complete terms may be in the enrollment contract, where you'll see them when you sign.

Transparency is separate from exposure on purpose. Legacy Christian has one of the strictest published formulas in this group and also one of the clearest. You can read the exact percentage for the exact date before you commit. That's worth a lot.

The part we'd want someone to tell us

TEFA does not protect you from your school's contract. The program returns its own money under TEFA rules and stops there. If your top priority is a guaranteed, prorated exit any time you want one, a full-year enrollment contract is the wrong tool. Look hard at the lower-exposure schools in the table, and ask any online or hybrid program whether it uses shorter terms before you assume it does.

But here's the flip side. TEFA law protects private-school control over admissions, curriculum, and religious identity. That autonomy is written into the law. It does not make a strict contract kinder. It keeps the state from using this program to rewrite a school's admissions, curriculum, or religious rules.

You can plan around a strict contract. You can't enroll in a school that refused to participate.

Do this before anything else: open the enrollment contract you signed — the PDF, not the school's webpage — and find the word "withdraw." Read that paragraph twice. Everything else on this page will make more sense after you do.

→ Run the three-number withdrawal check before you call the school

No login. You need your contract, your TEFA transaction history, and the school's proposed refund amount.

---

What leaving actually costs, month by month

Answer capsule: On a full, non-prorated $10,474 private-school award, Odyssey's published schedule makes 25% ($2,618.50) available on July 1, 2026, 25% ($2,618.50) on October 1, 2026, and 50% ($5,237) on February 1, 2027. A student must stay enrolled at a participating private school to receive future installments. An official transfer can keep future payments in play. A waitlist award may be prorated.

This is the math nobody publishes, so we ran it.

A full-year contract can bill for the whole year while the state makes money available in three pieces spread across seven months. That mismatch is where families get hurt.

If your award is the full standard $10,474

If your child's actual award is $30,000

These are schedule numbers, not a final family bill. They assume a full, non-prorated award, completed program steps, and funding released on schedule. The $30,000 amount is a ceiling, not a standard disability award; use the exact amount in your Odyssey portal. A school may also have to return part of the TEFA money already paid for services not provided in full. Your contract can separately leave a personal balance.

Call it the November cliff. Leave the TEFA program in November on a full standard award and the last $5,237 never becomes available. It's the biggest single payment of the year. November is also late enough for a bad fit to become undeniable.

Why the payments stop

Odyssey says it directly: students have to remain enrolled at a participating private school to get future installments, and a student found enrolled in a public or charter school during the year gets removed from the program.

Now here's a detail we haven't seen laid out this way anywhere else, and it's worth thirty seconds of your attention.

Texas Education Code § 29.362(d) requires the program to check with the Texas Education Agency, on or before October 1 and February 1, that your child isn't being counted in public school attendance.

Look at those dates again.

The statutory check deadlines line up with the current October 1 and February 1 installment dates. The law does not say the check must happen on those exact days. It says the check must happen on or before them, and TEFA enrollment and eligibility must be verified before funds can be released.

Miss a required program step or enrollment check, and funding can be delayed or stop.

Which is why "we'll sort it out in the spring" is the most expensive sentence in this whole conversation.

Run the three-number withdrawal check

Do not start with the annual award. Start with these three numbers:

1. Contract charge after withdrawal: the total amount the school says the contract requires after any exception, waiver, insurance benefit, or proration.
2. Your money already credited: deposits and tuition you paid from your own account.
3. TEFA that stays credited: TEFA already paid to the school minus the TEFA refund the school says it will send back through Odyssey.

Use this:

Estimated personal balance = contract charge after withdrawal − your personal payments already credited − TEFA that stays credited

Then list future TEFA that has not arrived on a separate line. Do not count future installments as money the school already has. If the school already gave you a net balance after every credit, do not subtract the credits twice. Ask for the line items behind that balance.

This is the part that stops the panic. You are not trying to solve one mystery number. You are asking the school for three numbers that have to add up.

Primary sources: Official TEFA funding and timeline · Odyssey funding installments and waitlist proration · Texas Education Code, Chapter 29

---

Does TEFA money ever come back to me?

Answer capsule: No TEFA money is refunded directly to a parent. Under Texas program rules, returned funds go back into the child's TEFA account while the child remains eligible and participating. If the account closes, remaining program money returns to the state after pending payments are settled. Families receive spending power inside the program, not cash.

Two official documents describe this slightly differently, which throws people off. Let's clear it up, because the answer is actually consistent.

The state's guidance says that if a student stops participating, the school is expected to return any tuition and fees paid in advance to the state.

Odyssey's refund policy says returned funds go back to the student's wallet.

Both are right. The adopted Texas rules explain the sequence: returned money lands in the child's program account while eligibility continues, and money left over goes back to the state when the account closes.

So the plain-English version:

• Still in the program? The money comes back to your TEFA account. You can use it for future approved purchases, subject to your child's current award and setting.
• Leaving the program entirely? The account closes after pending approved payments are settled, and whatever is left goes back to Texas.

Either way, it does not become your money.

What that means practically

Say your school returns $3,000 in TEFA funds because you transferred in October. That $3,000 shows up in your child's account. It's still TEFA money. It still has to be spent on approved things at approved places. You cannot use it for the moving truck, withdraw it as cash, or spend it outside the program marketplace. Any later payment still has to meet TEFA rules.

There's also a rule people bump into by accident: schools and vendors are barred from refunding, rebating, or crediting anything paid with TEFA money back to a parent's personal account. A school that does it risks its own participation in the program. So if a business office ever offers to "just cut you a check to keep it simple," that's the moment to slow down and ask them to confirm the process with Odyssey first. You'd both be exposed.

What if the school just got paid too much?

Common situation. Your school set a tuition amount, you confirmed it in the portal, and the number was off. Your child is still happily enrolled.

That is not treated as a withdrawal refund. Odyssey's policy says overpayment refunds aren't eligible while the student is still enrolled. Instead, you and the school are expected to adjust the next tuition payment.

So it becomes a credit, not a return. Get the corrected schedule in writing before the next installment lands, or the same mistake repeats.

Primary sources: Texas tuition and fee guidelines · Odyssey's refund policy · 34 TAC § 16.407

---

Can the school still bill me after it sends the TEFA money back?

Answer capsule: Yes, depending on the enrollment contract. In its final TEFA rulemaking, the Texas Comptroller treated private contracts between families and schools as outside the program's scope. Returning TEFA funds and collecting a remaining private tuition balance are separate actions.

This is the objection that keeps parents up at night, so let's be direct about it.

Yes. A school can hand the state's money back and still bill you.

During final rulemaking, school groups asked the Comptroller to make clear that a private school could charge for the full year after a child left and enforce its private contract for private payments. The Comptroller agreed that private contracts between a former student and a private school sit outside Senate Bill 2, then clarified that the TEFA rule applies only to program funds.

Sit with that for a second.

The state can require TEFA money back for services not provided in full. It does not automatically erase the family's separate contract balance. That's why the eight rows in our table look so different from each other.

One school wrote it right into the policy

Cornerstone Christian Academy in Granbury says TEFA families must settle tuition and fees in full regardless of funding source. Its policy also says tuition "will not be prorated for early withdrawal."

That's about as clear as it gets. And we'd rather a school say it plainly than leave you to find out in March.

What that looks like in dollars

Cornerstone's published 2026–27 rates are $11,550 for K–1st and $12,200 for 2nd–12th, plus a $400 registration fee for everyone.

Take a third grader.

Now use November 1, with no approved exception and no contract proration:

That $7,363 is an illustration, not a final account statement. If the school returns any of the first $5,237 through Odyssey for services not provided in full, the personal balance rises dollar for dollar. If the school approves an exception or waiver, it can fall.

Either way, more than $5,000 of the November shock comes from the February installment that has not arrived.

But read the exceptions — this part matters

Cornerstone also publishes named exceptions. Families who disenroll after the deadline are exempt from the tuition penalty for:

• Moving or relocating 50 or more miles away from the school
• Educational needs that can no longer be met at the school, as determined by faculty and school leadership
• Other circumstances approved by the Board of Directors

That second one is the one to notice. If your child's needs outgrew the school — the fit genuinely isn't there and the school agrees — there's a documented path out. It requires the school's determination, not just your opinion. But it exists, in writing, on a public page.

This is why "read the exceptions" is not filler advice. At Cornerstone, the scary paragraph and the escape hatch are on the same page, a few lines apart. Read both.

→ Run your own numbers before you call the business office

Bring the school's written TEFA refund number and private contract balance to the conversation.

Primary sources: Texas final rulemaking response on private contracts · Cornerstone's 2026–27 tuition and financial policy

---

What "non-refundable" really costs you

Answer capsule: A school's contract can label a fee non-refundable, but that label does not by itself decide the TEFA refund. Under Texas program rules, a provider must return program money for services not provided in full. At Shelton School in Dallas, published non-refundable charges for a new student total $4,000 — 38.2% of a full $10,474 award and 152.8% of the first $2,618.50 installment.

Non-refundable charges show up across this sample. The size is what varies, and at the top end it's larger than people expect.

Shelton School in Dallas publishes both:

• $2,500 registration fee, non-refundable, due with the enrollment contract
• $1,500 matriculation fee for new students, non-refundable, and the school specifies it is not prorated or refunded

$4,000 contractually non-refundable at signing. Before a single school day.

Run it against the award:

That last line isn't a typo. A new Shelton family's entire first scheduled TEFA installment is $1,381.50 short of those two published charges before a dollar touches the rest of tuition.

The trap inside the trap

Registration and enrollment fees are on the state's list of things TEFA can pay for. That sounds like good news.

It's also where the two rulebooks collide.

The school contract asks whether the family gets a personal refund. The TEFA rule asks whether the paid service was provided in full. A fee can be called "non-refundable" in a contract and still require a TEFA refund if the service was not provided in full. Or the school may say the registration or admission service was already completed.

We found no public statewide formula that settles that question for every fee. Ask the school to identify the service, say whether it was provided in full, and show the TEFA refund calculation in writing.

And at least one school directs the order. Cornerstone's policy says awarded TEFA funds must first be applied to application, registration, and tuition fees before other expenses.

Think about what that means. The policy sends state money into those buckets first. It does not make the money unrecoverable just because the school uses the word "non-refundable." It makes the itemized TEFA refund calculation more important.

We're not saying the fee is improper — Cornerstone explains its reason openly. We're saying you should know what service each fee pays for and when the school says that service was complete.

Not all "non-refundable" is the same thing

Don't let one word flatten six different categories:

Primary sources: Shelton's tuition and payment policy · Texas refund rule for services not provided in full · Texas eligible-fee guidance

---

Does tuition refund insurance protect TEFA money?

Answer capsule: Tuition refund insurance can reduce a family's obligation to the school, but it does not change TEFA rules, and TEFA funds cannot be used to buy it. Texas's adopted rulemaking treats tuition refund insurance as a non-educational expense. Coverage also pays a percentage of the unused portion of tuition, so the benefit shrinks the later in the year a family withdraws.

Four of our eight schools offer some version of this. The prices are all over the map:

First: you pay for it with your own money

TEFA cannot buy tuition refund insurance. Texas's adopted rulemaking treats it as a non-educational expense, so program funds are off the table — even at a school that requires the coverage.

That's a real out-of-pocket cost that people don't budget for. At Brentwood's 4.25%, a $14,000 tuition means roughly $595 in cash you can't pay with the award.

Second: 60% is not 60% of your tuition

Shelton's plan is the clearest published example, so let's use it. It refunds 60% of the unused portion of paid tuition for any reason, and 75% for a documented medical withdrawal.

"Unused portion" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Here's what the formula returns:

Leave at winter break with a 60% plan and the formula returns 30% of paid tuition. Not 60%. Seventy percent is not returned by that formula.

That's not a knock on the product. For a $600 premium against a five-figure obligation, 30% back can be the difference between a rough year and a genuinely bad one. Just don't buy it thinking it makes you whole.

Third: ask where the payout goes

This is the question we could not answer for you, and we're not going to pretend otherwise.

We did not find a Texas school or plan document that explains how a tuition-protection payout is split when TEFA paid part of the tuition and the family paid part. TEFA-funded money cannot be paid into the family's personal account, so the answer needs to separate the two sources.

Ask your school's business office, in writing, before you buy:

"If this plan pays on tuition funded partly by TEFA, what amount returns through Odyssey, what amount reduces our personal contract balance, and where does the plan administrator send each part?"

If they can't answer, ask them to get it in writing from the plan administrator. It's a fair question and they should have an answer.

Primary sources: Texas adopted rulemaking on tuition refund insurance · Shelton plan terms · Brentwood plan terms · Southwest Christian plan terms

---

We checked eight schools' TEFA pages against the state's rules. Three didn't match.

Answer capsule: Among the eight school organizations reviewed on August 8, 2026, three published at least one TEFA date or funding statement on their own website that differed from the current 2026–27 state schedule — 37.5% within this small, non-random sample. These are public-document mismatches, not findings of improper program administration.

Schools are running a brand-new state program during their busiest season. Web pages fall behind. That's human.

But if you're making a decision off a school's TEFA page, you should know the page might be stale.

That's 3 of 8 — 37.5% of this sample.

The March 31 deadline was not a quiet website edit. The Comptroller extended it on March 17 to comply with a federal court order.

And one detail makes the Cornerstone mismatch sharper. Its tuition page carries a modified timestamp of August 7, 2026. The page was updated one day before this review, and it still shows a dead application date from March.

We want to be careful here. These are website mismatches. They are not evidence that any school administered TEFA incorrectly or shortchanged a family. A stale sentence on a marketing page tells you nothing about how a business office handles your account.

What it does tell you is this: use the state's page for program dates, and use the school's contract for contract terms. Don't let a school's summary page be your source for either one.

The calendar problem nobody planned for

Here's where a stale date stops being trivia and starts costing money.

Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco uses a continuous enrollment agreement. It renews automatically each year until graduation. To get out for the following year without owing tuition, a family has to submit the withdrawal notice by January 31.

Now line that up with the program calendar:

A Legacy family had to decide whether to commit to 2026–27 four days before they could even apply for TEFA, and at least 81 days before the first award notices went out. Families in later rounds waited longer.

That's not Legacy doing anything wrong. Their January 31 deadline is a normal independent-school calendar that existed long before TEFA. It's a brand-new program landing on top of contract calendars that were built for a world without it.

But if you're at a school with continuous enrollment, put a reminder in your phone now to recheck the next opt-out deadline before January 2027. Miss the school's real deadline and the decision can get made for you.

Primary sources: Comptroller deadline extension · First award notices, April 22 · Legacy withdrawal terms · Current TEFA timeline

---

How a TEFA refund actually works, step by step

Answer capsule: A TEFA tuition refund must be coordinated by the school, not submitted to Odyssey by the family. Under Odyssey's published process, the parent notifies the school of the enrollment change, the school contacts Odyssey with the school name, student name, and proposed refund amount, and Odyssey returns the funds to the student's TEFA account. Odyssey states it cannot process a refund without the school's direct coordination.

You can't submit the refund to Odyssey yourself. That's the most important thing to understand about the process, and almost nobody knows it.

Step 1 — Read your withdrawal clause first. Before you tell anyone anything. Find the required notice period, how notice must be delivered, what date counts as the withdrawal date, and what you owe. If your school has exceptions like Cornerstone's, find those too.

Step 2 — Notify the school in writing. Not a phone call. Email at minimum. Use the template below.

Step 3 — The school contacts Odyssey. They provide the school name, the student's name, and the refund amount. Odyssey publishes a support line and email for schools to do this.

Step 4 — You update your child's setting in the parent portal. Select the new approved school, or select "Homeschool" from the dropdown if that's the plan.

Step 5 — Odyssey returns the eligible funds to the student's account. Then keep everything: the school's written acknowledgment, any case number, a screenshot of the updated setting, your final account statement.

Copy this email

Subject: TEFA enrollment change and refund coordination — [Student name] Hi [Business Office], We plan to [transfer to another participating school / switch to homeschool / leave the TEFA program], effective [date]. Could you please confirm the following in writing: 1. The total TEFA amount your school has received for our student to date. 2. The TEFA amount you propose to return through Odyssey, what services or dates that amount covers, and the date you'll contact Odyssey. 3. The amount, if any, our family still owes under our signed enrollment contract as of that withdrawal date. 4. Whether any published exception applies to our situation. 5. Any withdrawal form or notice we still need to submit, and how you need it delivered. Please keep the TEFA refund figure separate from any personal balance or credit so we can track both clearly. Thank you, [Name] · [Phone]

Why the separation in items 1–3 matters: if the school gives you one blended number, you can't tell what went back through Odyssey and what you still owe. Ask for separate numbers. Always.

→ Open Odyssey's official TEFA refund policy

Straight to the source. Updated August 6, 2026.

---

Switching to a different TEFA school mid-year

Answer capsule: TEFA students may change approved schools at any point during the program year. The parent selects the new school in the Odyssey parent portal, and Odyssey can redirect future payments after the student officially transfers. Future installments can continue if enrollment and eligibility are confirmed, but the old school's contract is handled separately.

Good news section. Read this one before you decide to leave the program entirely.

Transferring can be cheaper than quitting, but only after you understand the old contract. An official transfer can keep future TEFA installments in play. It does not promise that the old school releases you, that the new school has a seat, or that every remaining dollar moves on the same day.

Before you leave the old school:

• Confirm your withdrawal date under the contract
• Get a written account statement
• Ask what TEFA amount they'll return and when
• Ask what personal balance remains
• Confirm what's required to release records

Before you commit to the new school:

• Confirm it's currently listed as participating — the state adds schools regularly, so check on the day
• Confirm they've accepted your child and have a seat for your start date
• Confirm they can verify your enrollment through Odyssey
• Read their withdrawal clause before you sign

Don't create a two-contract problem

Here's the sequence that hurts people, and we've laid it out so you can avoid it:

1. You sign with the new school.
2. You find out the old contract is still due in full.
3. Your next TEFA installment can't cover both.

Get the old school's written financial position before you sign anywhere new. Not after. The order matters more than almost anything else on this page.

Primary source: Odyssey's school-change and refund process

---

Homeschool, public school, moving, or leaving TEFA

Answer capsule: A student's next educational setting affects both TEFA eligibility and the treatment of remaining program funds. Full 2026–27 funding is $10,474 for an awarded student at a participating private school and $2,000 for a student in the homeschool or other approved category, before any waitlist proration. Confirm account treatment with Odyssey before changing settings.

Switching to homeschool

Odyssey lists private-school-to-homeschool as one of three refund-eligible changes. You make the switch by selecting "Homeschool" in the parent portal.

One caution, and we're going to be honest that this is an open question. The full private-school award is $10,474. The homeschool and other-approved-setting amount is $2,000. The public guidance we found does not explain the exact account reconciliation when a child switches after part of the private-school award has already been funded or spent.

We're not going to guess at that. Ask Odyssey specifically what happens to the amount already in the account, the amount already paid to the school, and any future installment. Get the answer in writing before you change the setting. One written answer could be worth thousands.

Going back to public or charter school

Public schools and charter schools are both free public schools — charters are public, not private, and they're not what TEFA funds. Enrolling full-time in either one ends TEFA participation. Odyssey states that a student found enrolled in a public or charter school during the year will be removed from the program. State law requires checks with TEA on or before October 1 and February 1 to make sure a participating child is not being counted in public-school attendance.

Your private school contract doesn't disappear because you enrolled somewhere free. Handle that separately.

Moving out of Texas

Texas residency is an eligibility requirement. Contact Odyssey about how the account closes and what documentation they need. Separately, check whether your school has a relocation exception. Cornerstone's is 50 miles. Brentwood also publishes a 50-mile exception with later withdrawal fees. Legacy's withdrawal form asks whether you're moving 30 or more miles away.

If you're moving, the distance number in your contract may be worth more than anything else in it.

Leaving TEFA but staying at the school

Some families do this. If you drop out of the program but keep your child enrolled, you become responsible for tuition that future installments would have covered. Get a new written payment schedule from the business office before you opt out, not after.

Moving to a private school that doesn't participate

Future TEFA payments can't be redirected to a school that isn't approved. Confirm participation before you sign. A school can apply on a rolling basis, but don't plan around an approval that hasn't happened.

Primary sources: Official TEFA funding and eligibility · Odyssey funding timeline · Official TEFA participating-school finder

---

Can a school charge TEFA families more, or take away a discount?

Answer capsule: A school may not charge a family more for the same service simply because the student receives TEFA. Generally applicable sibling, employee, and parishioner discounts should still apply. A school may separately consider a TEFA award when it makes a need-based financial aid decision.

Short answer: no on a TEFA-only price increase, yes on a separate aid decision.

Your standard tuition shouldn't change because you have TEFA. Sibling discounts, employee discounts, parishioner discounts — those are supposed to keep applying. The state says schools should have a written policy showing that financial aid doesn't change the tuition charged.

But need-based aid is a separate decision. Schools can factor your TEFA award into whether your family can afford to pay. So if you were already receiving significant aid, TEFA might not reduce your out-of-pocket as much as you expected.

If that's your situation, ask for two numbers: what you'd owe with TEFA, and what you'd have owed without it. The difference is what the award is actually doing for you.

What TEFA can and can't pay for

TEFA can generally cover fees that apply to all students as a condition of enrollment, or that are directly tied to instruction. Examples the state lists include enrollment and registration fees, books and supplies, technology fees, school-related activity fees, tutoring or education-related therapy provided by the school, uniforms, school-day meals, mandatory facility and security fees, graduation fees, transportation, and assessment fees.

It generally can't cover before- or after-school care, capital campaign or fundraising charges, parent organization membership fees, or tuition refund insurance.

And here's the line to remember

Eligible does not mean automatically kept or automatically refunded.

TEFA can pay a $400 registration fee. The school contract may call that fee non-refundable. But a TEFA refund still turns on whether the paid service was provided in full, while your personal money follows the contract. Two different questions. Don't let a school's "yes, TEFA covers that" answer settle the refund question.

Primary source: Texas tuition and fee guidelines for participating private schools

---

Ten things to get in writing before you sign or pay

Answer capsule: Withdrawal terms, non-refundable amounts, and TEFA handling are often defined in a school's enrollment contract rather than fully explained on its public website. Ask for written answers before signing, including the last cancellation date, the TEFA refund calculation, the remaining private balance, and any exceptions.

Every painful story on this page starts the same way: something wasn't written down.

These are worded so they can't be answered with "it depends." Five minutes of a business office's time.

1. What's the last date I can cancel without owing annual tuition?
2. Which deposits and fees does the contract call non-refundable, and what's the total if we leave before day one?
3. If we withdraw on [specific date], exactly how much of the year's tuition does the contract say we still owe?
4. If TEFA has already paid you and we withdraw, what amount goes back through Odyssey, what service or dates does that amount cover, and when will you send it?
5. What exceptions does your policy list — relocation, medical, educational fit — and what proof do you need?
6. Is tuition protection required for us, what does it cost, and what events does it cover?
7. If the plan pays on tuition funded partly by TEFA, what goes through Odyssey and what reduces our personal balance?
8. In what order are TEFA funds applied to our charges?
9. How are payments we made with our own money refunded or credited?
10. Can an unpaid balance block records or go to collections?

Answers that should slow you down

• "We'll go over that after you enroll."
• "The website is the contract."
• "TEFA covers everything, don't worry about it."
• "You'd get the unused TEFA money back."
• "We handle withdrawals case by case." (Fine as a supplement. Not fine as the whole answer.)

Answers that should reassure you

• A specific date
• A formula you can do on paper
• TEFA money and your money discussed as two separate things
• A copy of the protection plan document, offered without you asking twice
• A named person who handles TEFA
• Written exceptions

→ Save or print this section before your next business-office meeting.

Bring the signed contract, your Odyssey transaction history, and the school's latest account statement.

---

Which kind of refund policy fits your family?

Answer capsule: Contract flexibility matters more for some families than others. Families likely to relocate, managing a medical condition, uncertain about a special-needs fit, or unable to absorb a second tuition obligation benefit most from bounded withdrawal terms. This is guidance about contract risk only, not about school quality.

Nobody needs to optimize for everything. Here's what to weigh based on where you actually are.

You might move this year. Look for a written relocation exception and check the mileage threshold — we've seen 30 and 50 miles. Prioritize bounded liability over a low sticker price.

Your child's medical needs could change. Look for medical withdrawal coverage, what counts as a covered event, what documentation is required, and whether mental health is included. Don't assume a condition is covered unless the policy names it.

You're not sure the school can meet your child's needs. This is the big one. Look for an exception like Cornerstone's — educational needs that can no longer be met, as determined by the school. Ask about a trial period. Ask what happens if the school concludes it isn't the right placement. If your child has a disability, our guides to Texas schools that document autism support and dyslexia schools that accept Texas ESA funds go deeper on fit.

You can't absorb a second tuition bill. Prioritize a low non-refundable amount and a bounded withdrawal fee. Redeemer's published formula — the month of withdrawal plus 10% — is the kind of structure to look for.

You're rural or might need a mid-year seat. Confirm the replacement seat before you withdraw. Online and hybrid programs may widen the map, but confirm current TEFA participation, capacity, start date, and contract terms before you rely on one.

You already signed and now need out. Do it in this order: don't sign anywhere new yet → read your contract → gather every payment and TEFA transaction → check whether an exception applies to you → ask the school for its written TEFA refund and private-balance calculations → give notice the way the contract requires → let the school coordinate with Odyssey.

If you're rethinking the school entirely, verify the next school in the state's live finder before you sign anything.

→ Open the official Texas TEFA participating-school finder

A school's participation is a payment gate, not an admission, seat, fit, or refund guarantee.

---

How we built this, and what we actually verified

Answer capsule: This comparison matched schools against the official TEFA participating-school workbook, reviewed each school's own published 2026–27 tuition and withdrawal materials, and compared each school's public TEFA statements against current state and Odyssey guidance. Exposure and transparency classifications are editorial judgments based on published documents, not assessments of school quality or contract enforceability.

The School Choice Index is an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs. We built this page because families kept being told the state's money has to go back, and nobody was answering the question they were actually asking: will we still owe the school?

What we verified

• Where TEFA-paid refunds go, and that they cannot be paid directly to a parent's personal account
• That the school, not the family, must coordinate a tuition refund with Odyssey
• The full standard $10,474 award and the July 1, 2026 / October 1, 2026 / February 1, 2027 operational installment schedule
• That waitlist awards may be prorated based on the date enrollment is confirmed
• That future private-school installments depend on continued enrollment and completed program requirements
• That the statutory public-school attendance checks happen on or before October 1 and February 1
• Each school's exact match in the official participating-school workbook: 2,786 data rows counted August 8, 2026
• The nine participating campus records represented by these eight organizations
• The specific 2026–27 term summarized in each school row, read on the school's own page or form
• Whether each school's public TEFA dates matched the current state schedule
• That tuition refund insurance is not a TEFA-eligible expense
• That Texas rules require program money back for services not provided in full

What we did not verify, and won't pretend to

• Whether any specific contract would be enforced in a specific dispute — that's a question for a Texas attorney
• Terms that exist only in a signed contract or a parent portal we can't see
• The exact TEFA refund amount Odyssey will process in any individual case
• A universal statewide proration formula for tuition, registration, or enrollment fees — we found none in the sources above
• How long a refund takes — no published time commitment exists
• How a tuition-protection payout is allocated when tuition was paid partly with TEFA and partly with personal funds
• The exact account reconciliation when a family switches from private school to homeschool after funding has started
• Whether any school has an open seat or will admit a particular child

We also want to be straight about the sample. Eight organizations out of 2,786 records is not a statewide study. We chose schools whose policies we could actually read, which biases the sample toward transparent websites. The 37.5% date-mismatch figure describes these eight and nothing more.

Sources we used

• Official Texas TEFA program site
• Texas tuition and fee guidelines
• Odyssey's TEFA Tuition Refund Policy, updated August 6, 2026
• Odyssey's funding timeline and waitlist proration
• Texas Education Code, Chapter 29
• Adopted Texas program rules, including 34 TAC §§ 16.404–16.408
• Official participating-school workbook
• Each school's own policy page or form, linked in the comparison table

Corrections

If we got something wrong or a school's terms have changed, tell us and we'll fix it in public. We don't silently swap data — corrections go in the change log with a date.

Dataset version: 1.0
Last full review: August 8, 2026
School organizations: 8 · Participating campus records represented: 9
Next scheduled review: September 2026

No school can buy coverage, a ranking, a badge, verification, or a position in this comparison. Some schools may pay a flat monthly fee for parent-selected introductions elsewhere on the site. That is not pay per lead, not a commission, and never affects coverage, content, verification, or result order.

---

Frequently asked questions

Can a private school refund TEFA money directly to me? No. Program rules bar schools and vendors from refunding, rebating, or crediting TEFA-paid transactions to a parent's or student's personal account. Eligible refunds go back through Odyssey. A school that pays a parent directly risks its own participation in the program.

Does returning the TEFA money cancel my tuition contract? No. Those are two separate obligations. The Comptroller treated family-school contracts as outside TEFA's scope, so a school can return program funds and still seek the private balance its enrollment agreement says is due.

Can my child change TEFA schools during the year? Yes. Odyssey allows transfers between approved schools during the program year and can redirect future payments after the official transfer. Your old school's contract is handled separately, and the new school still has to accept your child and confirm enrollment.

What happens if my child switches to homeschool? Select "Homeschool" in the Odyssey parent portal and notify your school so it can coordinate any eligible refund. The homeschool and other-approved-setting amount is $2,000 for 2026–27, compared with a full $10,474 participating-private-school award. Ask Odyssey directly how it will reconcile an account that has already received private-school funding.

Can TEFA pay for tuition refund insurance? No. Texas's adopted rulemaking treats tuition refund insurance as a non-educational expense, so program funds can't be used for the premium even at schools that require the coverage.

Can a school keep a non-refundable registration fee that TEFA paid? The contract label does not settle the TEFA question by itself. Texas rules require program money back for services not provided in full. Ask the school what service the fee bought, whether it says that service was completed, and what TEFA amount it will return through Odyssey.

What if the school was overpaid but my child is still enrolled? Odyssey's policy says overpayment refunds are not eligible while the student remains enrolled. The school and family are expected to adjust the next tuition payment instead. Get the corrected amount in writing before the next installment.

What if my school won't contact Odyssey? Odyssey states it cannot process a tuition refund without the school's direct coordination. Keep your written request, follow up in writing, and contact Odyssey support with your documentation. Escalating with a paper trail works better than escalating without one.

What happens if my child is expelled? The TEFA return and your contract obligation are still separate. Check whether your contract treats dismissal differently from voluntary withdrawal — some don't. Cornerstone's published policy, for example, applies the same full-year obligation to withdrawal, dismissal, and expulsion, subject to its listed exceptions and any Board-approved circumstance.

Can a school charge TEFA students more than other students? No, not simply because they receive TEFA. Texas rules bar a provider from charging a program participant more than its established standard amount for the same service. Generally applicable sibling, employee, and parishioner discounts should still apply.

Do unused TEFA funds roll over? They can carry forward when the child remains eligible, the parent confirms continued participation, and the participant has not been declared ineligible. The money does not become cash. When the account closes after pending approved payments, remaining money returns to the state.

My school's page shows a different TEFA date than the state's. Which do I follow? Use the current state page and Odyssey for program dates. Use your signed contract for contract terms. Then ask the school to confirm in writing which date applies to its own deadline. In our review of eight schools, three had at least one public date or funding statement that did not match the current state schedule.

Can I get TEFA money as cash or get reimbursed for something I bought outside Odyssey? No. TEFA purchases and tuition payments go through the Odyssey platform, and the parent application terms state that purchases made outside the program marketplace are not reimbursed to the account.

---

One last thing

If you take nothing else from this page, take these three:

One. The state's money and your money follow different rules. Ask for separate numbers, always.

Two. October 1, 2026 and February 1, 2027 are the current second and third installment dates. State law requires the public-school attendance checks on or before those dates. Plan around the verified schedule, not a stale school page.

Three. Your contract may have an exception clause. Go read that far.

You're not behind for not knowing this. Odyssey's refund policy was updated on August 6, 2026 in a support section written for schools. You're asking the right question at the right time.

---

Still not sure what comes next? Start with the official TEFA participating-school finder, then read the withdrawal clause before you sign. A school's participation does not guarantee admission, a seat, fit, funding, or a flexible exit.

---

The School Choice Index is an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs. This page compares published policies and program rules. It is not legal advice, and it does not determine whether a particular contract is enforceable. For a dispute about your own agreement, talk to a Texas attorney.