New Hampshire

Education Tax Credit Program

  • Tax-Credit Scholarship
  • Enacted 2012
  • Launched 2013

The New Hampshire Education Tax Credit Program offers tax credits to businesses and individuals supporting Scholarship Organizations (SOs), nonprofits that provide private school scholarships, or home school support to students in need. Families who meet the income requirements can receive scholarships they may use towards private schooling, tutoring, online learning, classes at colleges or universities, and/or homeschooling expenses.

We do not administer this program.

Eligibility Test Apply

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  • 1

    America’s Only Tax-Credit Scholarship that Includes Homeschoolers   

  • 827

    Participating Students (2024–2025) 

  • 38%

    Families with Children Income-Eligible Statewide 

  • 2

    Scholarship Organizations (2024–2025) 

  • 68

    Participating Schools (2024–2025) 

  • $3,045

    Average Scholarship Value (2024–2025) 

  • 15%

    Value as a Percentage of Public School Per-student Spending

New Hampshire’s Education Tax Credit Program Participation

Students Participating
Year
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Student Funding

Use of Funds 

Qualifying expenses include tuition; the cost of a public school located outside the resident school district; higher education; tutoring; distance education program; and home education expenses.

Funding Amount and Source 

This program is funded by donations from individuals subject to New Hampshire’s interest and dividends tax and businesses, who may receive 85% tax credits for donations to Scholarship Organizations (SOs). Homeschooling students may receive reimbursements for educational expenses. The average scholarship size is about $3,700, which is about 19% of the average expenditure per student at New Hampshire’s district schools, though the cap on scholarship values is somewhat higher. Tax credits are worth 85% of the value of the contributions to scholarship organizations. Total credits claimed cannot exceed $5.1 million, meaning roughly 1,700 students can participate, or less than 1% of New Hampshire’s K–12 student population. New Hampshire’s tax-credit scholarship program deserves credit for being the most expansive in the nation in terms of how parents may use scholarship funds to customize their child’s education. It more closely resembles education savings accounts than other tax-credit scholarship programs. The program also avoids unnecessarily burdensome school regulations.

(Last updated July 9, 2024) 

Student Eligibility

Students must be between ages 5 and 20 and come from households where family income is less than 300% of the Federal Poverty Level or FPL ($93,600 for a family of four in 2024–2025). In the first two years of the program, scholarship organizations were required to award 70% of scholarship funds to students who previously attended a public school (“switchers”) or to switchers who already received a scholarship. However, beginning in the third year, the percentage of scholarship funds required to go to switchers is reduced by 5% each year. In 2024–2025, the program will require at least 20% of scholarship recipients to be switchers. Additionally, at least 40% of the total scholarship organization’s award must be given to students who qualify for the federal Free and Reduced-Price Lunch program.

(Last updated July 9, 2024) 

EdChoice Expert Feedback

New Hampshire’s tax-credit scholarship program helps over 1,000 students access schools that are the right fit for them, but policymakers could do more to expand educational opportunity.  Eligibility for the scholarships is limited to 300 percent of the federal poverty line. Forty percent of New Hampshire students are eligible for a scholarship and less than one percent of students statewide actually use a scholarship or participate in the Granite State’s town tuitioning program.  The average scholarship size is about $3,700, which is about 19 percent of the average expenditure per student at New Hampshire’s district schools, though the cap on scholarship values is somewhat higher. Tax credits are worth 85 percent of the value of the contributions to scholarship organizations. Only $5.1 million in tax credits are available annually, which is equivalent to only 0.16 percent of New Hampshire’s total K–12 revenue.   New Hampshire’s tax-credit scholarship program deserves credit for being the most expansive in the nation in terms of how parents may use scholarship funds to customize their child’s education. It more closely resembles education savings accounts than other tax-credit scholarship programs. The program also avoids unnecessarily burdensome school regulations.  To expand access to educational choice, New Hampshire policymakers should dramatically increase the available tax credits and expand eligibility to all students (prioritizing scholarships based on need). Increasing the credit value to attract more contributions and restoring the “escalator” that allowed the cap to increase over time to meet demand would be a good start.  (Last updated December 18, 2023) 

Rules and Regulations

Program Guidelines

  • Income Limit: 300% x FPL
  • Prior Year Public School Requirement: Conditional
  • Enrollment Cap: None
  • Scholarship Cap: $3,221 (average value) / $5,636.75 (special needs minimum)
  • Testing Mandates: None
  • Credit Value: 85%
  • Per Donor Credit Cap: $600,000
  • Total Tax Credit Cap: $5.1 million
  • Special Needs Pathway: None

Participant and Family Guidelines

Education Provider Guidelines

  • Accreditation/Approval: State
  • Employment Standards: Staff non-affiliated with SGO
  • Nondiscrimination: State and federal
  • Calendar/Curriculum/Attendance: N/A
  • Financial: May be subject to state audit
  • Miscellaneous: N/A

Scholarship Organization Guidelines

  • Scholarship to Contribution Ratio: Use at least 90% of contributions for scholarships
  • State Reporting
  • Submit to the state:
    • Total number and dollar amount of scholarships awarded and the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch for each of the student eligibility categories
    • Total dollar amount of donations spent on administrative expenses
    • Total carryover dollar amount
    • Total dollar amount of contributions used and not used for scholarships
    • Number of scholarships distributed per school and the dollar range of those scholarships
    • Analysis, by ZIP Code, of the place of residence for each student that receives a scholarship
    • Aggregated results of a parental satisfaction survey, designed by the state
    • Number of students who graduated and the number who dropped out of school
  • Financial: State audit upon reasonable complaint
  • Priority: Renewing students, switchers, FRL
  • Miscellaneous:
    • Comply with state and federal antidiscrimination and privacy laws
    • Be registered with the state director of charitable trusts
    • Be approved by the state
    • Refrain from restricting scholarships for use at a single school and reserving scholarships for specific students
    • Award scholarships to students who attended public school, who received a scholarship the previous year, or who are entering kindergarten or first grade, award at least 40% of scholarships to students who qualified for free and reduced-price lunch in the final year they were in public school.

(Last updated September 27, 2024)

Governing Statutes

N.H. Rev. Stat. §§ 77-G:1 through 10

 (Last updated July 9, 2024)