Your student is eligible if they meet the following criteria:

1. Student in Evanston-Skokie District 65

2. 6th-8th grader in school year 2025-2026

3. Qualify for free or reduced lunch

To find out more, visit our eligibility page.

No, the scholarship has already been applied to your child’s account. You just need to log into the Digital Backpack platform with your child’s D65 Google Account to access the funds and start using them for eligible programs.

Log-in information can be found in the FAQ below.

Log into your Digital Backpack 65 account by clicking the ‘Sign in with Google‘ button and use your child’s District 65 Google account to view your pre-loaded funding. The email used for login is your student’s 6-digit Student ID number and @district65.net (for example, 123456@district65.net). 

Your student should know their Student ID and password - consider asking them! It is also located in the PowerSchool Parent Portal.

Accessing Student ID and Password in PowerSchool: English / Spanish

Your child can use the scholarship for any eligible after-school and summer programs listed on Digital Backpack, including programs from the City of Evanston, McGaw YMCA, and other community partners. 

You can explore all available options on the platform using the eLEAP tag or in the eLEAP village.

Each eLEAP program has an eLEAP Scholarship User Cost listed in the description. This is how much you are responsible for paying. With your eLEAP Scholarship, you can apply up to this amount. You will be responsible for paying any remaining balance.

For example, if you apply $250 to a program with an eLEAP Scholarship User Cost of $300, you will have to pay $50 out of pocket.

Yes!

Your child can use the scholarship for one or more programs, depending on your preferences and the total cost of the programs.

Now that you’ve applied to use scholarship funds, the organization that you have applied to will review your application, and then respond via Digital Backpack.

You will receive an email notification from this provider with further instructions to finalize your application.

If you haven’t registered with the external provider yet, you are free to cancel your application and apply your funds to a new program.

However, if you’ve completed signing up with the organization, you are subject to that organization’s cancellation policies.

If you cancel before the organization’s cancellation deadline, your scholarship funds will be returned to your account.

eLEAP registration is used to tell an organization that you want to use your scholarship. It does not mean that you are registered for the program.

To register for the program, you must complete external registration by following the instructions that the organization provides you.

The eLEAP scholarship funds are available for use through the end of December 2026.

If you apply to a program with the eLEAP scholarship before the end of January 1st, 2025, you may be eligible for an additional scholarship if you live in census tracts 8102 or 8092.

If you do not apply to a program with the eLEAP scholarship, you may have to re-apply to regain access to your funding.