Glossary
The terms you'll meet in program rules and vendor portals, in plain English.
- ESA (education savings account)
- A state-funded account a family uses to pay for approved education expenses such as tuition, tutoring, therapy and materials. Texas, Wyoming, Missouri and Iowa run ESA-style programs; Utah, Georgia and Louisiana call theirs scholarships. Learn more
- Program administrator
- The organization that runs the platform for a state: applications, the marketplace, payments and reimbursements. Odyssey administers most programs on ChoicePaid; ClassWallet and Step Up For Students run others. Learn more
- CEAO
- Certified educational assistance organization: the Texas term for the administrator that runs TEFA under the Comptroller. Odyssey holds that role. Learn more
- Marketplace
- The online store inside the program platform where families buy from approved vendors with program funds. Learn more
- Offering
- A single product or service you list in the marketplace. Each offering is reviewed separately, even after your business is approved. Learn more
- Net 30
- Odyssey pays vendors 30 days after an order is marked fulfilled, which happens when you enter a tracking or receipt number. Learn more
- Receipt or confirmation number
- What you enter for a service order to mark it fulfilled. If your system doesn't create one, Odyssey says to use the delivery date and time. Learn more
- Reimbursement
- When a family pays you directly and then claims the money back from their account. Reviewers check your receipt, so it needs specific details. Learn more
- Proof of payment
- Evidence a purchase was actually paid: "Paid" on the receipt, a bank or card statement line, or a completed payment-app screenshot. Learn more
- Price cap
- The most a family can spend on one item in a category, such as a laptop or a lesson. Listings above a cap must be repriced. Learn more
- Purchase restriction
- A limit on how often or how much can be bought, such as one laptop every three years or 10% of an award on technology. Learn more
- Blended market price
- Odyssey's reference price for an offering: an average of retail prices excluding the highest and lowest. Your price must be within a reasonable margin of it. Learn more
- Provisional status
- Wyoming's first stage for new service providers: you can serve families while the state completes a certification review within your first year. Learn more
- Average daily attendance (ADA)
- The attendance count public schools are funded on. Public schools can sell services to ESA families only if those students don't count toward it. Learn more
- PSC certification
- Certification from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, required for tutors in the Georgia Promise Scholarship. Learn more