What Kind of Educational Impact Do You Care About?
Every student has potential, but not every student has the same opportunities.
Sometimes the right support at the right time can help a student understand a difficult subject, discover a strength, find the right learning environment or begin to see a future that once felt out of reach.
Beginning in 2027, the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC) gives taxpayers a new way to help create those opportunities through qualifying contributions.
How Does the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Make This Possible?
Beginning January 1, 2027, the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC) gives eligible individual taxpayers a new way to support K-12 educational opportunities.
By making a qualifying cash contribution to an approved Scholarship Granting Organization, eligible taxpayers may receive a federal income tax credit of up to $1,700 per taxpayer each year.
The FSTC is a tax credit, not a tax deduction, and it is nonrefundable. The amount you may claim depends on your qualifying contribution, available federal tax liability and applicable federal requirements.
The federal credit makes participation possible. The educational opportunity your contribution helps create is what makes it meaningful.
Scholarkids provides general educational information and does not provide individual tax advice. Always consult your tax advisor.
How Your Choices Help Shape the Impact
When you donate, you can select one or more of the educational impact areas you want to support. Scholarkids combines the selections made by donors and uses them to guide how funds available for scholarships are proportionally allocated across the six impact areas, based on the overall share of donor selections and subject to federal requirements and available qualified scholarship needs.
This means the causes donors care about collectively help shape the educational impact of the Scholarkids FSTC program.
Your selections do not designate a particular student or give a donor control over an individual scholarship. In accordance with IRS regulations, Scholarkids independently verifies student eligibility, selects scholarship recipients, determines award amounts and ensures scholarship support is used only for qualified educational expenses.
More Than Tuition
Sometimes it is the tutor who helps a student understand a difficult subject.
Sometimes it is the right curriculum, testing opportunity or educational service.
Federal scholarships may help cover a range of qualified K-12 educational expenses, depending on applicable program requirements.
- School tuition
- Tutoring and educational classes
- Curriculum and instructional materials
- Testing
- Certain dual-enrollment expenses
- Certain educational therapies and services
These are the practical supports that can turn an educational opportunity into something real for a student: a lesson understood, a skill strengthened, a barrier reduced or a new path opened.
Why Give Through Scholarkids?
The educational opportunity you can help create is the reason to give.
Your contribution can help:
- A curious student discovers a future through STEM.
- A family overcomes a financial barrier to educational opportunity.
- A student receives the tutoring they need to regain confidence and keep moving forward.
- A family accesses a faith-based educational environment important to them.
- A student with a disability receives qualifying support designed around how they learn.
- Make educational support available where the need is greatest.
When you donate, you can choose one or more of the educational opportunities that moved you to give.
Your choices help keep Scholarkids’ scholarship program connected to the educational causes donors care about, while Scholarkids remains responsible for student eligibility and individual scholarship decisions.
Does the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Take Money Away From Public Schools?
No. The Federal Scholarship Tax Credit is structured as a separate federal tax credit for qualifying cash contributions that individual taxpayers voluntarily make to approved Scholarship Granting Organizations. It does not directly transfer or reallocate funds already appropriated to an existing public-school budget.
On the contrary, qualifying contributions create an additional source of scholarship support for eligible students and qualified K-12 educational expenses, for students of public and private schools alike!
Depending on a student’s needs and applicable program requirements, scholarship support may help with expenses connected to public, private or religious education, as well as tutoring, instructional materials, testing and certain educational therapies.
The goal is to create additional pathways to educational opportunity for all eligible students.
Choose Where You Want to Make an Impact
When you are ready to contribute, the donation page will also give you the opportunity to choose the available states where you would like your contribution to be used.
Each available state will be clearly identified before you complete your contribution. This gives you another way to decide where your support can make a difference while keeping the focus on the educational impact you want to help create.
The federal credit limit does not change based on which available state you select. Regardless of where you live in the US, your contribution is eligible for the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, subject to applicable federal requirements and your individual tax situation.
Wherever you choose to make an impact, your contribution helps Scholarkids create meaningful educational opportunities for eligible students.
Support Scholarkids' Mission
Families are seeking educational opportunities that can make a meaningful difference for their children. If you are ready to make a qualifying contribution that can support students today and create impact for years to come — we are ready for you.
Scholarkids provides general educational information and does not provide tax, legal or financial advice. Federal Scholarship Tax Credit eligibility depends on applicable federal law, current Treasury/IRS guidance, program requirements and each taxpayer’s individual circumstances. Scholarkids’ participation is subject to required approval and listing under the FSTC program.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to contribute the full $1,700?
No. You may make a qualifying contribution below the $1,700 annual federal credit limit. Your individual tax situation will determine the amount of credit you may be able to claim
What happens if I cannot use the full credit in one year?
The FSTC is nonrefundable, so it cannot reduce your federal income tax liability below zero. However, unused eligible credit may generally be carried forward for up to five years, subject to applicable federal requirements and your individual tax situation.
I don’t have children. Can I still contribute?
Whether or not you have children, you can be part of strengthening educational outcomes, at no net cost to you.
Can I claim both the FSTC and a federal charitable deduction for the same contribution?
No. A contribution for which the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit is allowed cannot also be claimed as a federal charitable contribution deduction for the same amount.
Can I receive another tax credit on top of my federal credit for the same contribution?
No. Only one tax credit is allowed per donation. If you wish to also get an additional tax credit (like a State tax credit), it will require you to make another donation towards that program. Taxpayers should consult their tax professional regarding how this may apply to their individual circumstances.
Can I direct my contribution to a specific geographic area?
Yes. absolutely. Scholarkids is constantly adding the list of States in which the donors’ contributions can be directed, to create educational outcomes. However, the primary guiding principle is always the impact areas you care about most.