@vistajay Going with Benacquisto (for at least one year), but having FSU’s OOS tuition waiver and scholarship may be a great plan. Just need to confirm that your OOS tuition waiver and scholarships are not “lost” when you get the Benacquisto (which I would think is the case). In other words, if you don’t get the Benacquisto the 2nd year, will you still get the OOS tuition wavier and scholarships?
Of course, that question will confuse the heck out of the financial aid folks, so you’ll have to push them on it to get an answer (in writing).
Well FSU still has great OOS scholarships that are not tied to NMF status, so I can’t imagine he would not qualify for one of those as a sophomore if OOS Benacquisto lost its funding. But yea, I will definitely confirm that if we get that far with FSU.
Below is Florida Senate President Joe Negron’s statement. Keep in mind that he will be senate president, next year (they serve 2 year terms), that the Governor will likely be running for the Senate, against a popular Bill Nelson. The speaker of the house will likely be running for the Governor’s office. Hopefully, Senator Negron will learn from this failure and will be able to force this through in the next session.
It’s not uncommon for the Florida legislature to fail one year, only to get it past the next.
Also note that the Governor’s office believes the BF funding will happen this year and will likely give that direction to the schools.
…I always thought we had a crappy Governor. This only reaffirms my prior beliefs.
On the brighter side… I now have a potential use for my 529 money. I thought I would have the unique problem of not knowing what to spend that money on.
Now that Special Session is over, I wanted to reassure all parents and students in Florida that the expanded benefits for Bright Futures Scholars WILL BE AVAILABLE next year.
Two weeks ago we had a great dialogue with students, parents, and taxpayers across Florida on this page about the newest reform effort for Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship Program.
The changes included fully funding tuition for Bright Futures Academic Scholars, including the summer semester and an additional book stipend.
This week, the Governor vetoed SB 374, which contained the language for these reforms. So what does this mean? The good news is, this coming year, these changes to the Bright Futures Scholarship Program are here to stay! The Governor did NOT veto the money associated with this program and has instructed the Florida Department of Education to fully fund the expanded benefits to students who qualify.
What it also means is these changes to Bright Futures are only guaranteed for this year and not beyond. I assure you, I will not stop working to make these permanent for years to come. We had massive bi-partisan support in both chambers for these reforms and expanded benefits. The Governor also supports these changes.
So to recap, this year, the expanded benefits are still coming to students throughout Florida who qualify and we will fight to make them permanent for years to come next legislative session!
Well it seems like I’m late with the news…I’m just now reading up on this thread. Lol ignore my previous comment but thank you all for providing such great information:)
@ucfknight26 Yes and maybe. The governor say’s that’s the case, but the schools are waiting for final guidance from the state. That’s why you don’t see the award amount updated, yet…
I am going to the University of Miami this fall with scholarships from UM, plus NM college sponsored scholarship, plus BF, plus Benacquisto.
However, I know the NM scholarship and the BF will be negated out of the Benacquisto amount, which at this point I was told hasn’t been determined, but last year the amount of slightly over 23K which equated to the highest tuition of the public schools which was FIU.
So will the increase of the BF affect me in any way? Since there is no way the BF will exceed Benacquisto so it will always get cancelled out?
I still don’t quite understand the rationale for having the OOS Benacquisto for one year. Why bother? Are there OOS students entering college this year would have been attracted to the possible Benacquisto back in Oct/Nov/Dec application timeline knowing it may be a go or no go and it may be only for one year?
I am also looking to see if there is any guarantees that the Benacquisto Scholarship will be carried for the next four years or is that also in doubt?
@doraemon33004 Yes, the changes to BF have no affect if you already have Benacquisto.
There is no “rationale” for a one year OOS Benacquisto. The legislature voted to extend it to OOS students, but that higher education bill was vetoed by the Governor. Now funding is in place for only one year (for OOS Benacquisto) but no supporting law is in place to award any of that money to OOS students.
When the Florida Department of Education comes out with the “process” for awarding the additional funds for BF, maybe they will address the OOS Benacquisto awards. However, my bet is that they ignore it and no OOS students get it this Fall.
If I’m wrong, great, it would be a nice one year bump for OOS students who have already enrolled in school.
@Gator88NE , I am no Fla govt expert but the money for OOS Benacquisto was included in the budget, just like the money for increase in BF. If the Dept of Education arbitrarily decides not to create a process whereby OOS eligible Benacquisto fall 2017 enrollees receive the funds, that would certainly dampen any 2018 OOS NM applicants and would expose the Dept to legal challenges (if anyone cared to bring one).
May be I am missing something here, but if the intent is to attract OOS students to Florida, then awarding a one year Benacquisto Scholarship to those OOS students who happen to qualify but never expected it or applied for it seems really arbitrary. I can’t see an OOS student choosing to come to a participating Florida institution with the hope of getting the Benacquisto award when they made their college choice & decisions, and for one year only? Those OOS students who are coming made the decision to come regardless so the Benacquisto didn’t sway their decision. Whereas those in FL who are NMF the year they applied factored Benacquisto into their budget planning. I don’t know, doesn’t seem they are executing according to the original intent. Either open to the OOS students for the entire 4 years, or don’t. Giving an unexpected one year bonus to those who never expected it and were going to come anyways makes no logical sense.
Anyone know when they will know what the amount of the Benacquisto scholarship is this year? Is it still waiting on the Governor’s desk?
Finally, if BF does get expanded to cover summer classes, whereas Benacquisto does not, is there anyway a Benacquisto Scholarship recepient may benefit in terms of attending summer classes?
The OOS for NMF is just one part of the law, funded only for one year because the law was vetoed but the money had been placed in the budget already. You are correct, @doraemon33004 , that 2017 freshmen OOS NMFs would not have counted on it. Nevertheless, it is there, just like the BF increase is there in the budget.