The video provides a detailed, step‑by‑step walkthrough for service providers who need to create both a personal and a business account on the Education Market Assistant (EMA) platform used by Step Up for Students. It begins with pre‑onboarding preparation, emphasizing the need to review service‑category charts and external documentation guides. The presenter then guides viewers through signing up on stepup4students.org, including email selection, robot verification, choosing the "service provider" account type, and setting a secure username and password. After phone verification, the user is directed to a short quiz (skipped) and proceeds to build a personal profile: entering service descriptions, mailing and physical addresses, delivery mode (in‑person, virtual, or both), session type (group/individual), and saving the information. The personal dashboard checklist is used to add a service offering, with reminders to upload required credentials per service category. The walkthrough then transitions to creating a business account. After logging out and back in, the user fills out a business profile, using either a legal business name or personal name if no EIN exists, adds a detailed description for families, and provides addresses. The next steps cover adding a payment method: selecting individual or company, entering banking details, completing the W‑9 section with exact EIN or SSN information, and confirming the Direct Pay status turns green. The provider then signs the terms and conditions, adds a service location (including hours, delivery mode, and virtual options), and finally adds business service offerings once the personal services have been approved. The final segment explains how to link the personal and business accounts by searching for the business name, sending a request, and accepting it in the Service Provider section. The video concludes with contact information for Step Up for Students support, including chat, phone, and email hours. Overall, the video serves as a comprehensive instructional guide, ensuring providers understand each required field, verification step, and checklist item needed to successfully set up and link personal and business EMA accounts and receive scholarship payments.
Chapters
Hello and welcome to the provider's account walkthrough. All right, before we begin, make sure to review this service category chart as this video is specifically for these categories that require a personal and business account. Also, be sure to review the external guides for each category you are interested in providing to ensure you have all your documentation ready and accessible. Once that's done, we'll go ahead and get started creating your personal and business provider account. Now the first thing you're going to do is go to stepup4students.org. Sometimes you'll see a pop-up box show up. You're just going to click outside of that box, and next we're going to go to the Apply/Login button. From there, from that dropdown, you will click login. Now, this is the website that you will use every time you're looking to log into your Emma account, or as we call it, Education Market Assistant. Now, once you're there, you're going to click don't have an account, sign up. And be sure to remember not to bookmark this link, because sometimes that does cause issues logging in. Or delaying the process of login. Once you're at the create account section, you're going to use an email address that you have never used in our EMA platform before. Once you enter that email address, be sure to scroll down and click the I'm not a robot box, then click send code. Once you get to this screen, you're going to select service provider because this account is strictly for your provider's access. Next, you'll create a username and password. This part is important, and we recommend that you write down or securely have the username and password for future login. As you continue, you'll be asked a series of security questions and prompted to enter required information. Once the information is entered, you'll click continue. Now you will be in the step 2 verification section where you will enter a phone number. Once you've completed this section and received your authentication code, you're all set to move on to the next part of onboarding. Once you're logged in, you'll notice there's a short quiz that helps guide you toward which type of account to create. For now, we're going to skip this quiz and we're going to start with the personal account. An acknowledgement statement box will pop up. Click the box and select Continue. Now that you've logged in and are beginning to fill out your personal profile information, we're going to start with a brief description of the services that you're looking to render. Next, you'll fill out mailing and physical address. However, if the addresses are the same, you're able to click this little box and it will automate the physical address for you. Then you're going to click here whether your services are going to be in person, or online or virtual. Now, keep in mind to check our checklist to verify if the service category you're providing does allow for the option of online and virtual. Again, you can click down at the bottom whether your sessions will be group sessions or individual or both. Once you're done filling out this page, you'll click Save. Next, we'll go to your personal dashboard section. This is a great checklist to help you guide what areas you've completed and which ones you still have to finalize. So the next step we're going to go to is add service offering. Once you're here, you'll click add a service and we'll begin filling out this information based on the service category you're looking to provide. Again, be sure to review what documentation you'll have to upload for each service category. Some of our services do require specific credentials, so be sure to check that checklist. Once you're done with this section, you'll click submit. Now that you've finalized filling out all your information for your personal account, we're going to move on to your business account. So you'll go to your personal dashboard section, and there'll be a statement here at the bottom that says, also need a business account, create account. Once you click there, there's going to be a pop-up checklist again for you to ensure you finalize each step on the business account. And at this time, the system will log you out. Once you're logged out, you'll log back in with those credentials that you had placed at the beginning of the creation. And then once you're back in, we're going to go to our business dashboard. Keep in mind, again, use the checklist to go through each of the steps and ensure that you finalize each step of the business account. So we're gonna start with your business profile. Once you're in your business profile, you'll fill out all of your information related to your business. Now, if you don't have a legal business or an EIN number, your legal business name will be your first and last name. Again, you can add all of the details if you have a website. And then here we see the description box. Again, be as detailed as possible in this description box because this is what families will actually see in the marketplace. Then you'll fill out your mailing address and physical address and click save. Once that's complete, we'll go back to the business dashboard, and next we're going to add our payment method. This is where payments of the scholarship dollars will be deposited to you. Once we're at your banking page, you're going to click manage. Here is where you're going to start filling all the information Right up here, you're going to want to ensure you select whether it's an individual or a company, and then fill out the rest of the details regarding your business. Once that's complete, we'll click next. On this next section, you'll fill out all your banking information again where the scholarship dollars will be deposited to. Once you finish this information, we'll click next. Once banking details are complete, you will be taken to the W-9 section. Enter the details exactly as they are listed on your IRS EIN verification letter, including any DBA or CO fields, which are often shown as a percentage symbol above the address. Again, it's very important that all information here matches exactly how your business appears on your EIN verification letter. If you do not have a registered business, you will enter your full legal name and use your Social Security number instead of an EIN number. You do not need an EIN to create a business provider account. Then click Next. You will click the X at the top right, and you will notice the banner under Direct Pay will change from yellow to green. That green status confirms that your banking information is fully connected. On the left, we'll go back to the business dashboard section, and we'll finish the sign the terms and conditions. Once we're here, you will have to acknowledge each box, even though some of the items might not apply to you as a provider. Once the boxes are all checked, you will sign your name at the bottom. It's not going to be perfect, but once you have signed, you will click Keep, and then we submit. Once the terms and conditions are submitted, we go back to your business dashboard, and the next step will be adding a location. Here you'll click Add a Location, and we're going to add the information of where the services are going to be rendered. Again, you'll fill out the information in each of the boxes. Now, the displayed location name will be your business name, or how you would like the name to be displayed in the marketplace. Once you type out all of the fields, again, towards the bottom, we'll make sure if the services are going to be rendered online, virtual, in-person, or both, or if your sessions will be group, individual, or both, and then list your hours of operation. Once you're complete with this section, you'll be able to click Save. Now that you've completed all the information on where your location is for your service, again, we want to make sure that the service that you're offering does allow for a virtual option, and you can review our external guides to verify that the service category you are offering does allow the virtual option. If it does, you can select both. But again, once everything is complete, we'll go ahead and click save. Next, we're going to add your service offering. Keep in mind, at this point you will hold off on adding the service until you receive email verification that the services on your personal account have been approved. Once approved, you will move on with these next steps. You'll click add a service offering and select your service category. Here is where you're actually going to enter the rate for your service. If you have multiple rates based on your type of service, you'll be able to add multiple service offerings with various rates. Be sure to add a description If you do have various rates, so families know what the various rates are for. If you don't have anything else, you don't have to add a description. Then you'll click Select All. And since you've already done a personal account with your credentials uploaded, you do not have to upload anything else in this section. Once you've added your service, you'll click Save. You'll click Add a Service. Here you'll see the status of the service showing submitted, meaning it's under review with our processors to approve this session. Now we'll go back to your business dashboard and you'll see that all the items on your checklist are complete, but we're not quite done. There's one more step where we need to link your personal account to the business account. Now that we're linking your personal account to your business account, We'll click over here on your sidebar to Businesses. Once this section comes up, you're going to type in your business name and click Search. As your business shows up, you're going to select it and click Request. Now that we've requested, the next step will be to go to your Service Provider section on the left sidebar, and you will see your business show up here. Once you're ready, you'll click accept, and this will then join your business account to your personal account. The next steps after this will be our processors reviewing your services that you have submitted, and at this point you have finalized creating your personal and your business account.
If you need additional support at any point, Step Up for Students is here to help. Our team is available Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time. You can connect with us in the way that works best for you. Chat with us anytime at suffs.org. Call us or email our team at providerdevelopment@suffs.org. We're committed to helping you every step of the way. And as always, thank you for watching.
