BRIGHT FUTURES SCHOLARSHIP CHANGES
By: Belinda M. Gonzalez-Leon, Ed.D., MBA
Educational Consultant
The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship program recently announced that it would no longer award extra monies per semester for books and supplies, nor could students qualify for the scholarship via the National Hispanic Recognition Award. Previously, if a student were awarded the National Hispanic Scholar recognition, it would qualify them for the Bright Futures Scholarship. That is now null and void. There may be further changes to this important Florida scholarship, but at this time, nothing is certain due to pending decisions.
The Bright Futures Scholarship provides tuition coverage of between 75% and 100% at a Florida state college or university, contingent upon the student’s qualification. Students can be eligible via a combination of test scores, GPA, and community or work hours. It is also possible to qualify if the student graduates high school with a specific type of diploma. However, students will no longer be eligible for the scholarship based on a high PSAT test score, as was previously possible.
Recently, the College Board, the organization that manages the PSAT exams, announced that certain awards and recognitions based on PSAT scores would be eliminated and new ones introduced. Students can now be recognized for their high scores achieved during the 10th and 11th grades in three ways:
School Recognition Award: Honors top-performing students in each high school nationwide.
First-Generation Recognition Award: Recognizes students who are the first in their family to attend college.
Rural and Small Town Recognition Award: Honors high-achieving students from rural and small town areas.
(https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/national-recognition-program-opens-may-7-new-school-recognition-award-open-all-students)
Students will no longer be recognized as African American/Black or Hispanic/Latino, or Native American/Indigenous, who achieved a high score. This recognition was eliminated due to the Supreme Court ruling that race and ethnicity cannot be considered in college admissions. Qualifying for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship through this particular type of academic achievement is no longer valid going forward. The new categories listed above are the ones that can be listed on college applications, will place the student on certain college recruitment lists, and may present scholarship opportunities.
However, on a positive note, a new way to qualify is that a student who achieves the Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone designation is now awarded the Florida Academic Scholars scholarship. This designation is achieved by a student who scores 3 or higher on at least six AP exams. Also, students who graduated outside of Florida but have a parent who retired from military or public service within the 12 months before the student’s graduation are now eligible for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship.
Final guidance on the Florida Bright Futures scholarship is still pending. The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Handbook, with updated criteria and information, is typically released over the summer. In addition, the Florida Legislature extended its session through mid-June, which means we have to wait a little longer for decisions that may affect the scholarship. We shall have to wait and see! The current recommendation is that students focus on simply achieving the highest score possible on their standardized tests.