Bright Future Scholarship Increases/Flat rate tuition (Block Tuition)/OOS Benacquisto Scholarship

@UFgogators Below is the language used in the bill.

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2017/2/BillText/e1/PDF

Based on how BF has been handled in the past, they will come up with a standard $ amount per credit hour, that will be used at all Florida public universities and CCs. I would then think, if you’re taking a full load of 12+ credits, they will then add on the $300 dollars to the total.

We’ll need to give the financial aid office a few weeks to work out the details, they may not be able to answer our questions until later in July.

This is fantastic news!!

@Gator88NE I did not complete FAFSA since I am 100% sure I would not qualify for need-based aid nor did I want any loans. I applied for Bright Futures through the state but I didn’t do anything on the UF side… Is there anything I need to do?

@SmartMaaaaan Nope, I don’t think so, as long as you’ve applied through the state (and your HS guidance counselor has submitted your info, such as volunteer hours). UF will contact the state for BF funds (and Prepaid).

when are the Bright Futures funds actually made available for use by the student?

The reason I ask is because the full housing payment is due around July 24. We have Florida pre-paid to pay for most of the tuition costs and the BF funding would go mostly toward housing.

Not officially signed yet, but when state representatives make public posts like this on Facebook it’s a great sign!
https://www.facebook.com/AmberForUs/posts/1868923873431696

Sorry if link was bad. From Amber Mariano, district 36 yesterday:
Starting this fall semester, all incoming and current Bright Futures Academic Scholars will be receiving 100% tuition coverage, a $300 textbook stipend for fall and spring semesters, and 100% summer semester tuition coverage beginning next summer!

It was such an honor to advocate and vote for this legislation during my first Session serving in the Florida House of Representatives. We are making huge strides toward keeping the best and brightest students in Florida!

Also note the part where she says “all incoming and current Bright Futures Academic Scholars”. Promising for those who aren’t incoming freshmen.

^^^Yay! Hope that’s also good news for the OOS National Merit/Benacquisto kids!

@RCGator They will not pay out the BF grants till about the first week of September (give or take a few days). Around that same time, they will pay out Florida Pre-paid. You may want to contact UF and see if housing can be deferred.

Note that Florida Pre-paid will be paid out first and will cover most of your tuition (it may not cover all of the fee’s, based on the plan you purchased). Then BF pays the rest, with what ever is left over going into your checking account. If housing can be deferred, it would be used to pay for housing.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article154658984.html

Let’s hope this gets resolved.

The issue is with Corcoran’s K-12 Education bill HB (7069) that was vetoed by the Governor . Negron’s Higher Education Bill made it to the budget that was signed…

I’ll feel better once SB 374 (the actual bill with the bright futures language in it) has been officially signed. (Link in post 178) Don’t think anything is official until then.

http://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/2017%20Bill%20Action%20Template%206-6-2017.pdf

Someone just told me that they heard from UF that the new Bright Futures amount (full tution plus books for Academic Scholars) will NOT take effect until Summer/Fall of 2018. Has there been an update on this?

The bill text clearly states Fall of 2017 and has not been amended as far as I can tell. Summer would be 2018 though.

My daughter just completed her first year at UF. She is a NMF with the Benacquisto scholarship. Will the Bright Futures changes affect her bottom line or will the amount she receives after BF is deducted remain the same as last year when BF was half as much?

@Trisherella Lets hope that’s not the case! The funding is for the fiscal year 2017-2018 (Fall 2017 thru summer 2018), so it has to be spent in that time frame. They will have to re-authorize it for 2018-2019. For that reason it doesn’t make sense that it wouldn’t start till Fall 2018.

UF (or the person that answered the phones at UF, that day) could be wrong.

@KJWeaver - My D is the same and my understanding is that the total will remain the same since BF is subtracted from Benacquisto. Wondering if they will get the book money but I doubt it. They will
benefit from BF paying for summer. So there is that at least!

I wish I’d known about the summer funding because my daughter just paid the bill for her required summer hours two weeks ago!!

It hasn’t started yet. And we still aren’t 100% that it will. If it passes, it will only be going forward. Not retroactive.