North Carolina ESA+ Award Amount Calculator 2026-27

Published by The School Choice Index · Last verified: August 11, 2026

The School Choice Index is an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs. We are not NCSEAA, ClassWallet, a school, or an education provider.

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### 🔴 Time-sensitive: August 17, 2026 North Carolina's budget was signed on July 7, 2026, with additional scholarship funds. NCSEAA sent additional 2026-27 ESA+ offers on July 27. If you got one, you have to accept or decline it in MyPortal by Monday, August 17, 2026. Miss it and the offer goes away. New ESA+ applications for 2026-27 are closed. This page is for families who already have an offer or an award.

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The short answer

Use the North Carolina ESA+ award amount calculator 2026-27 below and you'll have your number in about 30 seconds. Here's the answer before you even scroll.

The base ESA+ award is $9,000 for the 2026-27 school year. If your child's Eligibility Determination lists autism, hearing impairment, moderate or severe intellectual disability, orthopedic impairment, or visual impairment — as the primary or the secondary disability — the higher award is $17,000. Money comes in two equal halves, one each semester. So $4,500 or $8,500 at a time.

Now the part nobody tells you.

There are actually four statutory ESA+ amounts, not two. NCSEAA's own award chart shows you two of them. State law contains two more. If your child is enrolled part time in both a public school and a nonpublic school, the award gets cut in half — to $4,500 or $8,500 for the whole year. NCSEAA's website mentions a "reduced" award. It never says by how much.

We found the number. It's below, along with the six enrollment combinations and which two of them cost you half your money.

Sources: NCSEAA "Understanding Your Scholarship Award Amount 2026-2027" chart (full amounts) and N.C.G.S. § 115C-592(b) and (b1) (part-time amounts). Verified August 11, 2026.

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North Carolina ESA+ Award Amount Calculator 2026-27

Three steps. No name, no birthdate, no diagnosis details, no email. Nothing is submitted or saved.

Step 1: Find your ESA+ amount

Use the row that matches both parts of your situation.

The five higher-award categories are autism, hearing impairment, moderate or severe intellectual disability, orthopedic impairment, and visual impairment.

Step 2: Add the Opportunity Scholarship only if it applies

You can use both awards together only at a Direct Payment School. These are the 2026-27 Opportunity Scholarship maximums. The actual amount used can be lower because it cannot exceed the school's required tuition and fees.

Step 3: Calculate tuition, ClassWallet, and what you owe

Write down these three numbers:

• A = your annual ESA+ amount from Step 1
• B = your Opportunity Scholarship maximum from Step 2, or $0
• C = the school's annual required tuition and fees

Then use this order:

1. Opportunity used = the lower of B or C
2. Tuition left after Opportunity = C minus Opportunity used, but never below $0
3. ESA+ used for tuition = the lower of A or the tuition left
4. ESA+ left in ClassWallet = A minus ESA+ used for tuition
5. Family still owes = C minus Opportunity used minus ESA+ used for tuition, but never below $0

Worked example: higher ESA+ award, Tier 1 Opportunity Scholarship, and $15,000 in required tuition and fees.

That is the annual view. ESA+ is paid in equal semester halves. If your school's fall and spring costs are uneven, run the same math once for fall and once for spring using the semester maximums. Do not assume the annual bill is split 50/50.

You'll get: your annual ESA+ amount, what lands each semester, your combined maximum if you have both scholarships, how much goes to tuition, how much is left in ClassWallet for therapy and tutoring, what you might still owe, and whether your unspent money rolls over or disappears.

One thing this calculator can't do: it can't confirm your child is eligible, promise you'll get funded, or see what NCSEAA actually put in your MyPortal account. What it can do is show you the exact rule and the exact math behind every number — so if your official award doesn't match, you'll know to ask why before you endorse it.

✅ Got an offer sitting in MyPortal? Don't let August 17 pass. → Review your ESA+ offer in MyPortal

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How much is the North Carolina ESA+ award for 2026-27?

The 2026-27 ESA+ base award is $9,000 per year, paid as $4,500 per semester. The higher award is $17,000 per year, paid as $8,500 per semester. Students enrolled part time in a public school and part time in a private or home school receive half — $4,500 or $8,500 for the year.

ESA+ stands for Education Student Accounts. Its legal name is longer — Personal Education Student Account, or PESA — and you'll see that name in the law. It's North Carolina's scholarship for students with disabilities. It can pay private school tuition, or it can pay for tutoring, therapy, curriculum, and technology if you homeschool.

The amount doesn't depend on your income. It doesn't depend on your county. It doesn't depend on your child's grade. Two things set the ESA+ award itself, and only two:

1. Which disability is written on the Eligibility Determination
2. Whether the student is enrolled part time in both a public school and a nonpublic school

An Opportunity Scholarship does not change the ESA+ amount. It changes the family's combined aid and pays tuition first. Everything else on this page explains those two ESA+ rules, then shows what changes timing, tuition, ClassWallet, and the amount you may still owe.

The four amounts

Why you've probably only seen two of these

NCSEAA publishes a one-page PDF called "Understanding Your Scholarship Award Amount 2026-2027." It's a good document. It lists the base award at $9,000 and the higher award at $17,000, with the per-semester split for each.

It does not list the part-time amounts.

We went to the statute instead. N.C.G.S. § 115C-592(b) sets the base award at up to $9,000 for a full-time student and $4,500 for a part-time student. § 115C-592(b1) does the same for the higher award: $17,000 full time, $8,500 part time.

So the halved amounts aren't our estimate. They're written into North Carolina law. They just aren't on the page most parents read.

Why every number says "estimate"

The law says awards are "up to" those amounts. NCSEAA sets the official figure in MyPortal. Funding is limited, and awards are made until the money runs out.

We're confident in the math. We're not the state. Treat this page as the explanation and MyPortal as the record.

💡 Now that you know which amount to look for → Compare it against your award offer in MyPortal

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Who gets the $17,000 higher ESA+ award?

Five disability categories can qualify a student for the $17,000 award: autism, hearing impairment, moderate or severe intellectual disability, orthopedic impairment, and visual impairment. State law says the category counts whether it's listed as the primary or the secondary disability on the Eligibility Determination. Every other qualifying disability falls under the $9,000 base award level.

Here's the list, straight from § 115C-592(b1):

Two things about that table matter a lot.

First: autism is on it. It's item number one in the statute. If you read somewhere that autism only gets the base award, that source is wrong.

Second: look at the hearing impairment row. The law says "hearing impairment." NCSEAA tells school administrators that this covers deafness and deaf-blindness too. If your child's form says "Deaf-Blindness," you'd never guess that maps to the statute's wording. It does.

Check the second line on the form. Seriously.

This is the single most valuable sentence on this page, so we're going to be blunt about it.

The law says the qualifying disability can be listed as primary or secondary. Not just primary.

NCSEAA's main disability-documentation page lists what the Eligibility Determination has to include, and it says "your student's primary area of disability." One line. The statute and NCSEAA's 2026 application-prep slides say the higher-award category can be primary or secondary.

So a parent who reads only the parent-facing page, glances at line one of the form, sees "Specific Learning Disability," and assumes base award... might be sitting on the higher award and not know it.

What that's worth:

• $8,000 more per year
• $4,000 more every semester
• $104,000 more across 13 years of K-12 at today's full-award amounts, if the category and amounts hold

Go find the form. Read both lines.

The honest limitation — and what it actually means for you

ESA+ does not size your award to how much help your child needs. It sizes it to five words on a form.

If the form lists only a specific learning disability and no higher-award category as primary or secondary, the student falls under the $9,000 base award level. The same is true when the form lists only ADHD under "other health impairment," speech or language impairment, serious emotional disturbance, or traumatic brain injury. ESA+ does not rise because an IEP calls for more service hours. Five categories can qualify for $17,000. Everything else gets the base level.

Public-school special education is built around an IEP and the services in it. ESA+ is a fixed award tied to the listed disability category.

But here's the trade. With ESA+, you are not asking an IEP team to approve each private tutor, therapist, curriculum, or school choice. You choose from eligible schools, enrolled providers, and allowable expenses. NCSEAA still reviews covered spending. For a lot of families, $9,000 they direct beats a bigger package they have to fight to shape.

And if you're in the base tier, two things soften it:

1. Check line two first. You may not be in the base tier at all.
2. The Opportunity Scholarship stacks on top. A Tier 1 family at a Direct Payment private school with a base ESA+ award can reach up to $16,942 combined if the school's required tuition and fees support the full Opportunity amount. That's covered further down.

💡 Not sure what your child's form says? → See exactly what document NCSEAA accepts and what has to be on it

Does your child need an IEP?

No — and this trips people up constantly.

NCSEAA does not require the IEP itself. It requires the Eligibility Determination. That's the separate legal document a North Carolina public school issues saying the child has a disability and qualifies for special education or related services. It has to have been issued within the last three years, by a North Carolina public school or a Department of Defense school located in North Carolina.

A 504 plan will not work. Neither will a letter from your pediatrician, a private psychologist's evaluation, or a determination from a private school. NCSEAA says the Eligibility Determination is "the only document accepted."

If your child doesn't have one, you can't apply — and honestly, you shouldn't try. Start the special education process instead. The Exceptional Children's Assistance Center (ECAC) helps North Carolina families with this for free: 800-962-6817. They're a separate organization from NCSEAA, and there's no cost.

One more thing to plan for: ESA+ students have to be re-evaluated every three years to keep the award. If the primary or secondary category has not changed, a family may submit a new public-school Eligibility Determination or a Continuing Eligibility Form completed by a North Carolina licensed psychologist with a school psychology focus or a North Carolina licensed psychiatrist. The psychologist or psychiatrist route cannot document a category change and cannot be used when the student's primary disability is Developmental Delay. The public school can do the re-evaluation at no charge. Your child's private school cannot.

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Does co-enrolling in public school cut the ESA+ award in half?

Yes, but only when the student is enrolled part time in both a public school and a nonpublic school. That legal combination cuts the ESA+ award to $8,500 or $4,500. A public class by itself is not the legal test. Co-enrolling in two nonpublic settings — two private schools, or home school plus a private school — does not reduce the award at all.

This is the finding that pays for the page. Let's walk it.

NCSEAA's co-enrollment page says this, word for word: "There is a reduced total scholarship award for ESA+ recipients who co-enroll part-time in a public school."

Reduced by what? The page doesn't say. Not one dollar figure appears on it.

Three sources answer it together:

• § 115C-591(5b) says the part-time category applies when a child is enrolled part time in both a public school and a nonpublic school.
• § 115C-592(b) and (b1) set the part-time awards at $4,500 and $8,500 — exactly half.
• NCSEAA's own training deck for school administrators states that private- or home-school enrollment combined with public-school enrollment receives 50% of the award.

Statute, agency page, agency training material. All three land in the same place. It's half.

The six combinations, and what each one costs you

Read that table twice. Two nonpublic settings? Full award. Add a public school to a private-school or home-school plan? Half.

Full-time public school is not a standard ESA+ option. NCSEAA's co-enrollment page notes rare circumstances. If that's your situation, call 855-330-3955 rather than guessing.

The part that surprises people

Your Opportunity Scholarship is not reduced by the same decision.

NCSEAA's administrator training spells it out: for a student in private school plus public school, it's the "regular award" for Opportunity and "50% of the award" for ESA+. Same child. Same enrollment. Two programs treating it in opposite ways.

So if you hold both scholarships and you're weighing a part-time public-plus-nonpublic plan, the ESA+ formula is the side that takes the automatic 50% hit.

What this looks like in real dollars

Two families, same child, same $17,000 award basis:

• Family A homeschools and sends their child to a private school two days a week for social studies and art. Award: $17,000.
• Family B homeschools and sends their child to the local public school two days a week for the exact same subjects. Award: $8,500.

Same schedule. Same hours. $8,500 apart.

We're not saying skip the public school class. Sometimes it's the right call — a speech group, a specific teacher, a therapy room your child already trusts. That can absolutely be worth $8,500 to a family.

Just make the trade on purpose. Don't find out in October.

💡 Changed your school plan since you applied? → Run your real 2026-27 plan through the calculator

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When does ESA+ money actually arrive, and how does it get paid?

State law requires ESA+ to be paid in two equal halves, one each semester. How you receive it depends entirely on your school type: Direct Payment Schools are paid by NCSEAA in August/September and January/February, Reimbursement School families pay tuition themselves and get repaid after submitting receipts, and home school families get two ClassWallet deposits.

There are three completely different money flows here, and picking the wrong school type without knowing which one you're in is how families end up in trouble in September.

Path 1: Direct Payment School

NCSEAA pays the school on your behalf, twice a year.

Fall — August/September

1. School confirms your child is enrolled
2. School reports tuition costs to NCSEAA
3. School confirms your child is attending
4. School endorses (approves) the award amount
5. You endorse the award amount
6. NCSEAA sends the money to the school 1-2 weeks after you endorse

Spring — January/February is shorter: school endorses, you endorse, money goes out 1-2 weeks later.

Two things worth catching here.

You are the last step. Nothing moves until you endorse. If you're waiting on money and everything looks stuck, log in and check whether the endorsement task is sitting there with your name on it.

Type your name exactly as it appears in MyPortal. NCSEAA flags this specifically — the endorsement field is case-sensitive. It's a small thing that stalls payments.

And if the number looks wrong? NCSEAA's own instruction is in bold on their page: do not endorse. Email them first.

Path 2: ESA+ Reimbursement School — read this before you enroll

Some private schools choose not to take money directly from the state. If you pick one of those, you pay the school yourself, and you get repaid later.

How much later is the part nobody puts in writing plainly, so here it is:

Do the arithmetic. If your school requires fall tuition in August, you're reimbursed around December or January. That can be roughly a four-month gap where your own money is covering the bill.

For a family with the higher award, that can mean fronting up to $8,500 for fall and waiting a third of a school year to see it again. If spring tuition is due in January, you can face the same gap until April or May.

That's not a reason to rule out a Reimbursement School. Plenty of excellent schools operate this way. It is a reason to know your school's category before you sign an enrollment contract, and to ask whether they offer a payment plan that matches the reimbursement calendar.

One relief: unspent fall funds stay in ClassWallet for spring. Nothing evaporates mid-year.

Path 3: Home school

Simplest of the three. NCSEAA deposits your funds into ClassWallet twice a year — fall in August/September, spring in January/February. You spend it on allowable expenses.

You cannot pay "tuition" to your own home school. The whole award goes toward approved purchases: curriculum, tutoring, educational therapies, technology, and services from enrolled providers.

ClassWallet is the online platform that holds your money. You don't get cash. You buy from approved vendors inside the marketplace or pay enrolled providers through it.

When the 2.5% transaction fee applies

ESA+ does not automatically take 2.5% from your whole award.

State law allows the account to pay a transaction or merchant fee charged to the account holder, capped at 2.5% of the cost of that item or service. A provider may pass the fee to an ESA+ family only if it has a documented policy of charging card fees to other customers too. The fee has to appear as a line item on the invoice. Parents should not add it on their own.

So the maximum fee on a $1,000 service is $25. If the provider does not charge a qualifying fee, your fee is $0.

Small percentage, real money when it applies. But it is not a $425 deduction from every $17,000 award or a $225 deduction from every $9,000 award.

💡 Not sure which of the three paths you're on? → Check NCSEAA's payment process for your school type

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Why does my ESA+ award show $0 in MyPortal?

A $0 in the Eligibility & Awards section does not mean the ESA+ award is $0. NCSEAA says this section can show $0 until a private school reports tuition and fee information, usually in late August. The actual ESA+ amount is in the Award Offer notification.

If your student is going to a private school and you're reading this in the middle of August with a $0 staring back at you, this is very likely your answer.

MyPortal shows your money in two different places, and they don't fill in at the same time:

So if you clicked "Eligibility & Awards" and saw $0, go check your Award Offer notification instead. That's where the ESA+ amount lives.

Home-school families do not have a school reporting tuition, so this explanation is for private-school awards. If a home-school Award Offer and the portal disagree, contact NCSEAA.

Same page, quick note for Opportunity Scholarship holders: your Award Tier is in Eligibility & Awards under "Program." That's how you find out whether you're Tier 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Before you endorse anything, check these seven things

Endorsing is you telling the state "yes, this number is right." Take two minutes first:

1. ✅ Right student
2. ✅ Right school
3. ✅ Right semester's tuition and required fees
4. ✅ Right award type — base or higher
5. ✅ Right Opportunity Scholarship amount, if you have one
6. ✅ The ESA+ figure matches what you expected
7. ✅ Your name typed exactly as MyPortal shows it, capital letters and all

If something's off, don't endorse it. That's NCSEAA's own guidance, in bold, on their payment page. Email them and ask your school to confirm what costs they reported. Endorsing a wrong number is much harder to unwind than pausing for a day.

💡 Portal showing something you didn't expect? → Open your ESA+ Award Offer notification before you endorse

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Can you use ESA+ and the Opportunity Scholarship together?

Yes. North Carolina law explicitly allows a student to receive both, and NCSEAA calls these dual award recipients. The Opportunity Scholarship is applied to tuition first, then ESA+, and any ESA+ money left over moves to ClassWallet. Both awards can only be used together at a Direct Payment School, and the maximum combined 2026-27 award is up to $24,942. The exact Opportunity amount can be lower when required tuition and fees are lower.

This is the biggest number on the page and the least understood rule in the program.

### 🔴 Separate deadline: August 14, 2026 The 2026-27 Opportunity Scholarship new-student application closes at 5:00 p.m. Friday, August 14, 2026. That is separate from the August 17 ESA+ offer deadline.

§ 115C-592(c) allows an ESA+ student to receive an Opportunity Scholarship too. The Opportunity Scholarship is North Carolina's income-based scholarship for private-school tuition.

So the two stack. But the order matters, and so does your school type.

The payment order

NCSEAA's payment page spells out the sequence:

1. Opportunity Scholarship pays tuition and fees first 2. ESA+ pays next 3. Anything left in ESA+ goes to ClassWallet for allowable expenses

There's also a step families miss: in the fall sequence, NCSEAA calculates your final Opportunity Scholarship amount after your school reports tuition. The tier chart shows a maximum. Your actual award can come in lower if your school costs less.

The 2026-27 Opportunity Scholarship tiers

Your tier depends on household size and your 2025 household income.

Per semester: Tier 1 is $3,971 · Tier 2 is $3,574 · Tier 3 is $2,383 · Tier 4 is $1,787.

Tier 4 has no income limit. If your income is above the Tier 3 ceiling, or you didn't report income at all, you're Tier 4 and may receive up to $3,574. There is no income cutoff that makes a family ineligible solely because its income is too high.

Source: NCSEAA "Opportunity Scholarship Income Guidelines 2026-2027." Verified August 11, 2026.

What the stack actually looks like

Here's a family with the $17,000 higher ESA+ award and a Tier 1 Opportunity Scholarship, at different tuition levels:

Our calculation, using NCSEAA's stated payment order. Assumes tuition is split evenly between semesters.

The thing that flips how you should think about tuition

Look at that first row again.

At a school charging $6,000, the Opportunity Scholarship covers the entire bill. Your ESA+ award never touches tuition. All $17,000 stays available for speech therapy, ABA, occupational therapy, tutoring, curriculum, and technology.

At a school charging $18,000, ESA+ eats $10,058 of tuition and you're down to $6,942 for everything else.

Picking a cheaper school does not shrink ESA+. It can reduce the Opportunity Scholarship used because that award is capped by required tuition and fees. It also redirects more ESA+ into ClassWallet. For a child who needs 40 therapy sessions more than they need a $20,000 campus, that's not a compromise. That might be the whole strategy.

This table puts the whole trade in one place, and it's the single most useful thing on this page for a family still choosing a school.

Where stacking doesn't work

Be careful here, because two of these will cost you money if you get them wrong:

If you homeschool full time, the Opportunity Scholarship simply isn't available to you. Not a technicality you can work around — the funds can't be sent to a home school. Your ESA+ award is your funding.

💡 Think you might qualify for both? → Find your household's tier on NCSEAA's official 2026-27 income chart

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How much will actually be left for therapy, tutoring, and curriculum?

Whatever ESA+ money isn't used for tuition and required fees moves to ClassWallet each semester, where it can be spent on allowable expenses. For families at a Direct Payment School, the remainder depends on tuition. For home school families, the entire award goes to allowable expenses because there's no tuition to pay.

The headline award and the money you can actually spend on services are two different numbers. Here's how to find the second one.

Our calculations from NCSEAA's published rules. Assumes even fall/spring split.

Watch the uneven semester trap

ESA+ always splits evenly. Your school might not.

If your school charges more in fall than spring — a lot do, with registration and materials fees loaded up front — you can be short in the fall and flush in the spring even though your total math works out fine for the year.

Get your school's fall and spring required costs separately before you build a budget. Not the annual number divided by two.

What "allowable" actually covers

ESA+ funds can go toward tuition and required fees at eligible schools, plus:

• Academic tutoring in math, science, English/language arts, social studies, and foreign language
• Educational therapies — ABA, audiology, occupational therapy, and others
• Educational technology approved by NCSEAA
• Supplemental tutoring, educational therapy, and transportation billed separately by an enrolled school provider
• Summer academic or therapeutic services that follow NCSEAA's summer payment rules
• Student transportation to providers and education activities, under contract
• New for fall 2026: art and music tutoring — visual arts, performing arts, and private or group music lessons
• New in state law for 2026-27: education-related support from a one-to-one classroom aide at a Part 1 or 2 nonpublic school, when the aide has at least a high school diploma or equivalent, the school requests the support, and the principal approves it

Two limits on art and music. It has to be teaching or tutoring services from an enrolled provider — you can't buy art supplies, instruments, or music curriculum with it. And it doesn't count toward the $500 academic minimum we cover next.

The one-to-one aide rule has its own limits. The aide cannot serve other students during the instructional day. The aide also cannot be the student's parent, guardian, legal custodian, sibling, or grandparent, and cannot be an employee or contractor of the school. The school has to submit documentation each semester. Because this was added in the July 2026 budget law, confirm NCSEAA's current documentation and payment steps before hiring anyone.

Providers have to be enrolled with ESA+. Tutors need either a teaching license (active or inactive) or a bachelor's degree. Therapists need a license appropriate to their field.

Money sitting in ClassWallet isn't the same as money approved to spend. Purchases still have to clear the allowable-expense rules and NCSEAA's approval process.

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What happens to ESA+ money you don't spend?

It depends entirely on your award level. Higher award families whose account renews can carry up to $4,500 into the next school year, with a $30,000 total carry-forward balance cap. Base award families carry nothing — state law requires unspent funds to be returned to NCSEAA at the end of the school year.

This rule is buried, and it changes how you should spend.

Base award: use it or lose it

§ 115C-592(b) is short and unforgiving. For students who qualify only under the base award, state law requires every dollar left in the account at the end of the school year to go back to NCSEAA.

No rollover. No exceptions. Leave $2,000 unspent at the end of the school year and that $2,000 is gone — back to the state, not into next year.

If you're in the base tier, plan the whole $9,000 (or $4,500). Book current-year summer tutoring. Use remaining funds on current-year eligible costs. For summer, follow the prepay and July rules below. Don't sit on a cushion that disappears.

Higher award: you can build a reserve

$17,000 families whose account renews can carry up to $4,500 per year forward. Total carry-forward is capped at $30,000.

Here's how that builds if you never touched it:

That's a real planning tool. A family expecting an expensive year — an intensive therapy program, a specialized school, a big technology purchase — can build toward it across several years.

One catch: rollover money still has to be spent on current-year expenses. You can't use this year's rollover to settle last year's bills.

So the gap between the two award levels isn't just $8,000 a year. It's $8,000 plus up to $4,500 a year you can carry instead of losing, subject to the $30,000 cap.

The $500 academic spending requirement — new for 2026-27

To stay eligible and renew, you have to spend at least $500 per student per school year on tuition and/or curriculum and tutoring in these four subjects:

• Math
• Science
• English/Language Arts
• Social Studies

Foreign language doesn't count toward the $500 anymore, though it's still an allowable purchase. Art and music tutoring doesn't count either, even though it's newly allowed.

$500 out of $9,000 or $17,000 is a low bar. But it's a renewal requirement, so check it in the spring rather than assuming.

One more calendar rule

NCSEAA's home-school timeline says to submit by June 15. Its 2026-27 program rules say before the third week of June. Plan for June 15, then check MyPortal or the current program newsletter in case NCSEAA posts a different operating close. Once ClassWallet reopens in July, you can't pay for services that happened before July 1.

For summer, you either prepay through August 31 before the June close, or you wait and pay for July and August services after the reopen using rollover or new-year funds.

💡 Sitting on funds you haven't figured out how to use? → Check NCSEAA's current ESA+ spending and summer rules

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What can change the number you see or spend?

Two things change the ESA+ award itself: the disability category on the Eligibility Determination and part-time public-plus-nonpublic co-enrollment. The school's payment type, required fall and spring costs, Opportunity Scholarship, and rollover balance change timing, combined aid, or spendable money — not the ESA+ award level. Household income affects the Opportunity Scholarship but not ESA+.

If your number came out different from another family's, or different from what you expected, it's one of these:

That last row is worth repeating because it's the most common mix-up we see. ESA+ is not income-based. The Opportunity Scholarship is. Two different programs, two different rules, one shared portal.

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What you give up, and the deadlines that can cancel your award

Families who enroll a student full time in a nonpublic or home school must sign an LEA Release. The child no longer has a right to all the special education services they would receive in public school. A school must also be selected and the student enrolled by October 1, 2026, or the award is canceled.

We'd rather you hear this from us than find out in November.

The LEA Release

LEA means Local Education Agency — your public school district.

If your child attends a nonpublic school or home school full time, you sign a document releasing your district from providing the special education services they'd otherwise owe your child. That's a condition of the award, not fine print.

NCSEAA says it plainly on its own site: children placed full time in a nonpublic or home school by their parents do not have a right to receive all the special education services they would receive in public school. The private school may offer strong support, limited support, or none of the services your child gets now.

Read that twice if your child gets significant services now.

Some private schools are outstanding with students with disabilities. Some aren't set up for it at all, and a beautiful campus tells you nothing about whether they can deliver a reading intervention or handle a behavior plan. Get specifics in writing before you enroll: who provides the service, how often, what happens when it isn't working.

Only families enrolled full time in a nonpublic or home school sign the release. Co-enrolled families don't.

October 1, 2026 — the hard cliff

You have to select a school and get your child enrolled by October 1. NCSEAA's language: failing to choose a school by this date "will result in cancellation of the student's scholarship award."

Also note: August 1 has already passed. That was the last day to change your school choice yourself in MyPortal. Between August 1 and October 1, you have to email NCSEAA to make a change.

Accepting the scholarship does not enroll your child anywhere. You still have to apply and enroll with the school separately, on their timeline. Start that now if you haven't.

Taxes

NCSEAA reports certain ESA+ spending to the IRS on Form 1099-G — specifically, funds spent on allowable expenses other than tuition and required fees. Reporting happens in January for the prior calendar year.

North Carolina allows a deduction for PESA deposits to the extent the deposit was included in federal adjusted gross income. On the 2025 North Carolina return, that is Form D-400 Schedule S, Part B, Line 30. Line numbers can change from year to year.

Worth noting for home school families: the non-tuition amount you actually spend may be reported. Money deposited but not spent is not what NCSEAA says it reports. A private school family paying mostly tuition may see very little reported.

We're not tax professionals and this isn't tax advice. Talk to someone who does this for a living — it's a real question, not a formality.

Awards are not guaranteed

Applying doesn't guarantee funding. Awards go out until the money runs out. The 2026-27 ESA+ appropriation is $76,643,166. Complete eligible new-student applications received by March 2 went into a lottery and were awarded in lottery order until funding was exhausted. After the July budget action, NCSEAA sent additional offers on July 27 to most eligible students in lottery priority order.

💡 Still deciding whether a school can actually meet your child's needs? That's the harder question, and it's the one worth getting right. → Compare online ESA-eligible learning options, then verify each option in ClassWallet

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Is the 2026-27 ESA+ application still open?

No. North Carolina closed new-student ESA+ applications for 2026-27 on March 2, 2026. NCSEAA extended additional offers on July 27, 2026 after the state budget was signed, and those families must accept or decline in MyPortal by Monday, August 17, 2026.

Where things stand as of August 11, 2026:

Some context on how this year went, because it explains a lot of the confusion.

Complete eligible new-student applications received by March 2 went into a lottery. NCSEAA said parents should expect an award or waitlist notice by mid-April. Students were awarded in lottery order until ESA+ funding was exhausted.

Then the budget was signed July 7 with additional scholarship funds, and NCSEAA says it was able to offer scholarships to most of the eligible students in lottery priority order. Those offers went out July 27.

If you applied in February and heard nothing since April — check MyPortal today. You may have an offer you don't know about, and the clock runs out August 17.

If you didn't get one, NCSEAA's guidance is to monitor MyPortal and the program website. They'll determine after August 17 whether more awards can be made. We're not going to promise you one, because they haven't.

About next year: NCSEAA has not published 2027-28 instructions yet. Current law now requires applications to be available no later than the first Monday in February and gives priority to applications received by the first Monday in March. In 2027, those dates are February 1 and March 1. The law does not tell us whether NCSEAA will accept applications after the priority date, so we won't invent a closing date.

If you have an award, here's your list

1. Accept the offer in MyPortal by August 17
2. Pick your school arrangement — and check the co-enrollment table above first
3. Enroll your child by October 1
4. Confirm required fall and spring costs with the school directly
5. Sign the Parent Agreement and W-9. Sign the LEA Release if the student is full time in a private school or home school
6. Watch for the endorsement task, and check the number before you approve it

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How we built this calculator

This calculator applies North Carolina statute and NCSEAA's published rules to two ESA+ inputs — the disability category and the enrollment arrangement — plus an optional Opportunity Scholarship input for combined-aid math. Every figure on this page is traceable to the statute, the current session law, or an NCSEAA document, and each is dated.

Who made this

The School Choice Index. We are an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs.

Schools cannot pay to change calculations, coverage, content, verification, rankings, badges, or result order. Some schools may pay The School Choice Index a flat monthly fee to receive parent-selected introductions. Payment never affects this page. We're not affiliated with NCSEAA, ClassWallet, or any school.

How we did it

We pulled the full text of Article 41 of Chapter 115C — the law that creates ESA+ — and read the award, definition, disbursement, eligibility, and allowable-expense sections directly. We also checked Session Law 2026-41 for the current appropriation, future application dates, and the new one-to-one aide expense. Then we compared the law against NCSEAA's 2026-27 award chart, income guidelines, program page, co-enrollment page, payment page, program rules, documentation page, continuing-eligibility page, application-prep slides, school-administrator slides, and June 1 data workbook.

Where they agreed, we published. Where a short parent-facing page left out something the statute or a current NCSEAA training document contains — the part-time amounts, the primary-or-secondary rule, or the exact 50% cut — we used the stronger primary source and said so.

The dollar figures in our comparison tables are our arithmetic applied to those verified rules, and we've labeled them that way.

Official program data snapshot

NCSEAA's June 1, 2026 workbook reports 5,723 ESA+ recipients and $68,685,158 in school disbursements plus parent electronic accounts for 2025-26. That is about $12,002 per recipient. NCSEAA says final year-end numbers are still coming.

That workbook does not publish the number of students in each award tier. So it cannot support a claim that “most students get $9,000.” That is why this page calls $9,000 the base award instead.

Program-stated vs. verified

✅ What we actually verified — August 11, 2026

❌ What we can't tell you

• Whether your child will receive an award
• What NCSEAA has actually placed in your MyPortal account
• What your school reported for tuition and required fees
• Whether a specific reimbursement will be approved
• How any of this affects your family's taxes
• Whether a specific school or provider is currently approved

For all six, the answer is NCSEAA, your school, or your tax professional. Not us.

From a North Carolina parent

A parent of a student on the ESA+ waitlist told EdNC:

"We are pretty familiar with the program, but not the political and procedural details."

That's exactly the gap. Families understand what ESA+ is. What nobody hands them is the procedural map — which amount applies, what halves it, when money moves, and what the portal is telling them. That's what this page is for.

One family's experience, shared for context. Not evidence of any program rule or award amount.

Found something wrong?

Send us the official source and the rule you think we've missed. We check primary sources before changing anything, and we date every correction. This page changes when the rules change — not when the calendar does.

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North Carolina ESA+ award amount calculator FAQs

Is the ESA+ award based on household income? No. ESA+ award level depends on the disability category and whether the student is enrolled part time in both a public school and a nonpublic school. Income determines your Opportunity Scholarship tier, which is a separate program.

How much is the NC ESA+ base award for 2026-27? $9,000 per year, paid as $4,500 per semester — before any part-time reduction.

How much is the higher award? $17,000 per year, paid as $8,500 per semester — before any part-time reduction.

Does autism qualify for the $17,000 award? Autism is the first of the five categories named in § 115C-592(b1). What matters is whether it appears as the primary or secondary disability on your child's Eligibility Determination and what NCSEAA states in your award offer.

What if my child has two disabilities listed? That's good news worth checking. The law counts the qualifying category whether it's primary or secondary. Read both lines on the form.

How much does a part-time ESA+ student get? A student enrolled part time in both a public school and a nonpublic school gets $4,500 at the base level or $8,500 at the higher level. Split into two equal semester payments, that's $2,250 or $4,250.

Does attending two private schools cut the award? No. NCSEAA lists private-plus-private co-enrollment as a full-award arrangement. The reduction applies to the part-time public-plus-nonpublic combination.

Does home school plus a private school cut the award? No. That's also a full-award arrangement.

Will ESA+ cover all my private school tuition? Only if your award is at least as much as the school's required tuition and fees. You pay the difference. If tuition is less than your award, the remainder moves to ClassWallet for allowable expenses.

Why does MyPortal show $0? For a private-school student, the Eligibility & Awards section can show $0 until the school reports tuition and fees, typically in late August. Your ESA+ amount is in the Award Offer notification instead.

Can I get both ESA+ and the Opportunity Scholarship? Yes, if your child attends a Direct Payment School. The Opportunity Scholarship pays first, then ESA+, and leftover ESA+ goes to ClassWallet. The maximum combined 2026-27 amount is up to $24,942, and the Opportunity portion can be lower when required tuition and fees are lower.

Can homeschoolers get the Opportunity Scholarship? No. Opportunity Scholarship funds cannot be sent to a home school. ESA+ can fund eligible home-school expenses for students who meet its disability and program rules.

Does unused money roll over? Only with the $17,000 award and renewal of the account — up to $4,500 per year, capped at $30,000 total. Base award funds go back to NCSEAA at year's end.

Does ESA+ take 2.5% from the whole award? No. The 2.5% rule is a cap on a transaction or merchant fee charged for a specific item or service. A provider may pass it only under NCSEAA's card-fee rules, and it must be shown on the invoice.

Do I need an IEP? No. You need the Eligibility Determination, issued within the last three years by a North Carolina public school or a Department of Defense school located in North Carolina.

Can I use a 504 plan instead? No. NCSEAA says the Eligibility Determination is the only accepted document.

Do I have to reapply every year? Yes. Renewal happens annually, and prior recipients get first priority in the awarding process.

Is the 2026-27 application open? No. It closed March 2, 2026. The live deadline right now is August 17, 2026 for families who received the July 27 offers. NCSEAA has not posted 2027-28 instructions; current law points to February 1 and March 1, 2027 for opening and priority.

Is this an official NCSEAA calculator? No. It's an independent planning tool built from cited public rules. NCSEAA and MyPortal determine your actual award.

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Still deciding where your child should go?

You've got your number. The harder question is which school can actually deliver what your child needs — and that's the one worth taking your time on.

Start with online options that may work with ESA funding, then verify the exact school or provider in ClassWallet before you enroll or pay.

→ Compare online ESA-eligible learning options

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Sources

1. N.C.G.S. Chapter 115C, Article 41 — Personal Education Student Accounts for Children with Disabilities
2. Session Law 2026-41 — application dates, appropriations, and one-to-one classroom aides
3. Understanding Your Scholarship Award Amount 2026-2027
4. Opportunity Scholarship Income Guidelines 2026-2027
5. ESA+ Scholarship program page
6. ESA+ Program Rules and Requirements
7. ESA+ Co-Enrollment
8. Choosing a School
9. How Scholarship Funds Work
10. Documentation for a Disability
11. Continuing Eligibility
12. Service Providers and transaction-fee rules
13. Preparing for the 2026-27 ESA+ New Student Application
14. K12 Nonpublic Schools: ESA+ and Supplemental Services
15. ESA+ Summary of Data — June 1, 2026 workbook
16. EdNC parent quote and program explainer
17. 2025 North Carolina Individual Income Tax Instructions — PESA deduction, Schedule S Line 30
18. Home Schooling with ESA+ — annual ClassWallet timeline

All sources verified August 11, 2026.