Getting Started with UFA and Odyssey
What the wallet is, how the money works, and where to begin.
The wallet
Every approved UFA student gets a digital wallet inside Odyssey. It tracks three kinds of activity: Marketplace purchases, tuition payments, and reimbursement requests. All of your spending options live under that student's wallet, and funds cannot be pooled or transferred between siblings. Each student's balance is its own.
There are three ways to spend the money:
| Option | What it means |
|---|---|
| Marketplace | Buy pre-approved products and services directly through Odyssey. No review, no paying out of pocket first. |
| Tuition payments | Paid directly to approved private schools through Odyssey. |
| Reimbursement | You pay out of pocket for an eligible purchase made outside the Marketplace, then request the money back. |
Odyssey pushes the Marketplace first for a reason: it's pre-approved, so there's no chance of a denial. Reimbursement is for the things you can't get there, a tutor, a local class, a specific curriculum, and it's where almost every problem in this guidebook happens. Use the Marketplace when the thing you need is on it.
The program year
UFA runs on a fixed annual calendar, July 1 through June 30. Applications, awards, and the reimbursement deadline all land on specific dates that Odyssey republishes every year. The pattern repeats even when the exact day moves:
| Roughly when | What happens |
|---|---|
| March–May | Applications open (returning students first, then new students) and close. |
| Mid-June | School selection is due; awards are issued shortly after. |
| Late June | Award acceptance deadline. The program year ends June 30. |
| July 1 | New program year begins; the next year's funding is issued a couple weeks later. |
| Last day of May | Deadline to submit reimbursement requests for the year that's ending. Miss it and that request cannot be appealed. See what to do if rejected. |
Always check the current year's exact dates on your own Odyssey dashboard or the tracked handbook article below. The day-of-month shifts slightly year to year, but the shape doesn't.
First things to do
- Add your bank account under Profile in Odyssey, before you need it. See requesting a reimbursement.
- Decide how you're going to track spending before you start buying things. See tracking your expenses.
- When you're not sure what category something falls under, check choosing a category before you submit, not after it's denied.
Sources for this guide
-
Utah Fits All (UFA) Spending and Reimbursement Guide
-
Utah Fits All Program Year Timeline