They had a 15 minute recess. They are now discussing the other Bills on todays calendar.
CS/SB 4 - Higher Education ( Benacquisto to us NMF’s)
In summary:
CS/SB 4 - Higher Education ( Benacquisto to us NMF’s)
Effective Date: Upon becoming a law
Last Event: CS/SB 4 passed as amended; YEAS 84, NAYS 28 on Monday, March 05, 2018 2:57 PM
So now we hurry up and wait!
@FSUdad93 : Can you explain what this means. Idk everybody, but I am not familiar with the Florida legislative process. Has the Benaquisto for OOS survive? Also, does the governor have time limits to sign it?
Yes it has survived for OOS NMF. It has passed in both the Senate and the House.
https://www.flsenate.gov/PublishedContent/ADMINISTRATIVEPUBLICATIONS/idea-to-law.pdf
It is either going back to the Senate or Governor’s desk. It needs to be done by May 1st for most of us. I suppose If one was already planning on attending their Florida School anyway then they would have until the fall.
First post but have been reading this forum for several months and am looking for your input. Sorry so long.
NMF DD applied to 10 schools and has 7 acceptances and 3 lotteries still pending. The two front runners are Clemson w/HC and Texas Tech w/HC. We are OOS at both. Both have her major: microbiology / cellular & molecular biology, but are two very different campuses. She has visited both. Long-term DD desires to pursue a Ph.D. as a research scientist. She would prefer Clemson for community and smaller size, but TTU seems to have more undergraduate research in her field and she really connected with the professors and Dean of the HC.
While DD received the highest scholarship outside of National Scholars at Clemson, the >$125K Clemson price tag vs TTU full COA for NMF is hard to swallow as we don’t have that much saved for college but are full-pay. I have not heard much of anything on this forum in regards to TTU, which raises a red flag. With such a good offer for NMF, why aren’t more going there? Thank you for reading and posting any feedback.
Its Law, so its complicated! LOL Your guess is as good as mine and I have followed this for 2 years.
"If both chambers approve the bill, it goes to the Governor’s office for his consideration. The Governor can sign the bill, allow it to become a law without his signature or veto the bill. If the Governor chooses to veto a bill, the Legislature can overturn the next time they meet by a two thirds vote of both chambers.
If a bill doesn’t make it all the way through this process before the end of session, that bill dies and must begin the process anew the next year
◦Once a bill has passed on the floor in both chambers in identical form, it proceeds to the Governor for a signature. Once signed by the Governor, the bill becomes law."
My feeling is both the House and the Senate are rushing to have it done on time! The sixty days is up Friday, March 9th.
@FSUdad93: Thanks for the link and all this information really. From what I read online, it appears that governor has 15 days to either sign it or veto it. If the amendment is minor, I don’t see why it would go back to the senate. But if it does, we will know by the end of the week one way or another. I hope that it goes to the governor and he signs it.
@nodecision2022 have noticed UTD (Texas Dallas) seems to be very popular with NMF students and parents on this site. Don’t know but I am wondering if many prefer positives of Dallas being larger city (more direct flights, cultural opportunities, etc.) versus Lubbock? And for those reasons elevate UTD over TTU?
Just a guess on my part. KY has instate options for automatic NMF scholarships so there wasn’t need to go to far afield for DS18.
@LOUKYDAD The “nerd” culture and the strength of her major drew my DD to Dallas - it was the only school in Texas she considered. Dallas was an add-on benefit, she felt being near a major city like Dallas would make the cultural transition (we live in MN) easier.
@nodecision2022 : There are very knowledgeable people on this forum, and I am sure that they will chime in. I started my research a little late, but based on various data I looked into (see my previous posts), UCF was better than TTU. That is why I don’t investigate it any further.
FWIW, Clemson @ > $125K over TTU is absolutely not worth it. IMHO, even if the difference were only $50K, I probably would still dump Clemson. Of course, that is my opinion.
D was accepted to Cal Poly SLO and at the bottom of her letter was a request for NMFs and NHSs to email confirmation of the designation to admissions by 4/1. I could not find any scholarships tied to NMF at Cal Poly. Does anyone know of any?
FWIW, here is summary of my research about the UTD:
Among full ride or close to full ride schools, for OOSs, if your major is CS, it is the best bet.
See https://www.quora.com/Should-I-attend-UT-Austin-or-UT-Dallas
USNWR CS graduate ranking and College Navigator data back up this position.
It seems that it is nerdy and doesn’t provide a traditional college experience.
For premed as well as other biological sciences, I believe, UCF offers better value, though. I examined the data/views that have been pointed out on this form by many, and I still hold that UCF is better for bio-related.
In short, here is my “algorithm”:
For CS, go to UTD
For premed, go to UCF
Unless there is a compelling reason, forget the rest.
Please challenge me if you don’t agree so that we can help each other and learn.
xxyyzz00 I agree with your algorithm. However, my son and I factored in College Football, Florida and The Towers etc. and a ton of other “quality of life reasons” reasons UCF came out on top for us. To each his own! LOL UNM lost out because of the desert and Texas Tech did not want to waive the application fee and by then I paid for too many.
@nodecision2022 I agree with FSUDad93! Make sure you factor in campus feel/vibe/culture/etc! You aren’t just studying but also living on/near this college for 4yrs. I think that both UTD and UCF are great for CS and pre-med. I chose UCF due to the campus culture. I don’t know much about TTU because I ruled it out pretty early in the process due to location. I like my warm weather and am a city gal!
@FSUdad93 Totally valid reasons! 
For us, the Florida schools lost out because of distance (we’re in CA). I think they’re great schools that I’d be thrilled to have him attend if that’s where he wanted go, but the distance put him off.
@nodecision2022 Hi, I’ve followed this thread since last year and have read a lot (and learned a TON) from the other posters, but haven’t posted either. (I was afraid of jinxing the whole thing for my DS. Now that it’s official, I’m ok with posting. Superstitious, I know.)
In my case, Texas Tech sounds like a great deal for NMF, but I was put off by the 3.5 required to maintain the scholarship. My DS wants to go into engineering, and I know that the courses are tough, and even a 3.0 will be a struggle. So I didn’t want to put any added pressure on him to maintain a 3.5. If he lost the scholarship, he’d have to transfer, as we couldn’t afford to keep him at TTU without it.
Let’s revise the algorithm:
For premed/bio, go to UCF;
For CS, go to UTD if you like nerdy environment and not into sports
For CS, go to UCF if you want traditional college experience, sports, nice dorms/weather/entertaining city
@FSUdad93 One change I might make is major based. My dd wants premed but focus on neuroscience and UT Dallas Neuroscience program and connection with the Brain Performance Institute is pretty incredible and took UCF off the table for her.
@xxyyzz00,
It depends, is a robot attending the university, or is it a human being?