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The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program: Do Not Miss the Chance to Apply

ByCheree Liebowitz

 

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The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program purpose is to reward students for their academic achievements in high school by providing partial scholarships. This long-standing merit based scholarship program is for Florida residents attending Florida colleges, universities and career schools.

Even if a student’s current plans do not include an education in Florida, we encourage them to apply. If a student does not apply before graduating, they lose their eligibility forever.

The program offers three levels of scholarship awards – the Florida Academic Scholars award (FAS), the Florida Medallion Scholars award (FMS), and the Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars award (GSV). Each level includes a GPA requirement, required academic courses, community service, and scores on SAT or ACT exams. Other ways to qualify include National Merit Scholars, National Hispanic Scholars, AICE Diploma or IB Diploma in addition to Service Hours. Recent years have seen the Bright Futures eligibility requirements become more rigorous.

All seniors must submit a Florida Financial Aid Application available on December 1, 2014, at www.FloridaStudentFinancialAid.org to be eligible for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship, or any financial aid program in the state of Florida. This application must be filed as soon as possible after December 1. Registration should be completed no later than January 31, 2015. The application does not require financial information and takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

General Bright Futures Scholarship eligibility requirements include

  • Students must APPLY for the scholarship by submitting the Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA) beginning December 1 of their senior year and no later than August 31
  • Be a Florida resident and a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen
  • Not have been found guilty of, or pled nolo contendere, to a felony charge

Helpful hints for the application

All demographic information must be accurate and must match information on record at the student’s high school, collegeboard.org, and act.org. This includes:

  • Social Security Number
  • Date of Birth
  • First and Last Names
  • Address

Enter a Florida University as a postsecondary institution the student is planning to attend even if the current plan is to go out-of-state.

Enter no less than 3.0 for the weighted and unweighted GPA. Eligibility will be based on actual 7th and 8th semester Bright Futures GPA.

Scholarship amounts

The amount of the award is based upon the number of units taken, and the type of school. The amounts range from a high of $103 per semester unit for a 4 year college or university if you are a Florida Academic Scholar, to a low of $39 per unit for a career or technical center. This scholarship may be renewed for subsequent years. Award notifications will be received from March through August.

Students and their parents who need help and are clients of International College Counselors are encouraged to call or email us with any questions.