Q&A of the Day – Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: Hi Brian, I really enjoy your morning show and listen nearly every day. My daughter is going to be a senior this year at Martin Country High School in Stuart. Would you be interested in doing a brief overview of Bright Futures on your show? Who benefits? How/when to apply? How much assistance can BF actually provide a student?
Bottom Line: Heading into the 2023-2024 school year attention has understandably been focused on Florida’s Universal School Choice Program – which for the first time enables all Florida families to use the greater than $8,000 in school funding allocated per student, for the school of their choice. Btw, a quick note before discussing today’s topic. I’ve heard from several listeners who’ve successfully, and easily, made use of the expanded school choice program. With under a month to go before the start of the next school year the time crunch is on for families who’d like to make use of the program. As for today’s topic – what’s available from the state of Florida for high performing high school students as they head off to college...
The Bright Futures scholarship was created by the state legislature in 1997 in response to a similar initiative in Georgia called the Hope Scholarship. Funded by the Florida Lottery, Florida students graduating with a minimum GPA of 3.0, with a minimum of 30 public service hours, or 100 work hours and meeting minimum scores on the SAT or ACT have been eligible provided the students attend an accredited Florida based post-secondary institution. There are four different types of scholarships offered under the program:
- Florida Academic Scholars Award (FAS) – For students with an “A” GPA
- Florida Medallion Scholars Award (FMS) – For students with a “B” GPA
- Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars Award (GSV) – For students pursuing a technical degree or certificate program
- Florida Gold Seal CAPE Scholars Award (GSC) – For students pursuing a technical degree or certificate program
Florida’s graduation rate has risen from 58.8% in the 2005-2006 school year to as high as 90% within the past two years. Improved performance of students, significantly higher graduation rates and Florida’s huge population growth, has led to the total number of eligible students using Bright Futures to grow from an average of 32,000 participating students for the first ten years of the program, to greater than 118,000 students most recently. State spending for Bright Futures, which totaled around $250 million annually eight years ago, currently exceeds $650 million. Regarding the additional deets...
Students seeking to participate in the Bright Futures scholarship program must fill out a Florida Financial Aid Application by August 31st in the graduating year. The scholarship amounts are issued on a credit hour basis based on the type of scholarship and level of qualification. That said, Florida Academic level students receive 100% of tuition and fees at state colleges and universities. There’s also an additional $300 per semester for education related expenses. The scholarships are also useable at private institutions – though the awards may not cover the total tuition cost.
One of the most important considerations for parents and students seeking the Bright Futures Scholarship, or any other available academic scholarship, is to be intentional about performance from the time a student enters high school, as opposed to when they’re close to graduating from it. Many students miss out on opportunities entering college due to poorer performance at lower grade levels in high school and/or missing out related requirements like volunteerism or work, which can’t be entirely compensated for as a senior.
Florida already has the highest rated collegiate system in the country. And thanks to the Bright Futures Scholarship – hundreds of thousands of students who’ve performed well in high school are able to access it for free.