I was awarded the highest level (FAS) but i was wondering if that covered things like dorming, books and supplies, and other fees. Or does it only cover direct tuition? Thanks!
The new award is the amount of tuition plus $600 for books. You can use the money for r&b if you have other funds for tuition, but the amount of BF is for tuition (~$6500) plus that book allowance. Most Florida public schools allow the BF funds to be used for anything or refunded to the student if the billed costs are covered a different way (pre-paid, a scholarship, athletics, or the costs just isn’t that high). Private schools can set their own rules (my daughter’s doesn’t refund it, but does allow it to be used for any billed amount).
Is room service covered ?
Congrats on your Bright Futures award! The BF program is an amazing opportunity and a big part of why I heavily considered staying in-state during the application process. For public schools it is a fixed amount of tuition, but the privates have their own ways of following the program.
I will be receiving FAS and the way my school applies this (Flagler College, which is a private) is a stipend awarded per credit hour that can be used for any billed cost or refunded. Since the tuition at my school is a fixed amount for any course load between 12 and 19 semester hours, I am receiving more aid than the original estimate because I will be taking 18 semester hours instead of the projected 15.
Are you attending a private or public?
I am attending public
Bright Futures does not cover room and board.
@Publisher it certainly doesn’t cover “room service” 
Attending public means you get 100% tuition, plus a $600 annual book stipend (which can be applied to anything). Do you qualify for any beed-based aid? Federal grants (Pell, FSAG, FSEG, FSOEG) could be used to pay for room and board.
I’m not sure the private schools still get the per credit amount under the BF program. Until last year, public or private, the BF program paid $103 per credit for the higher award, and $77 per credit for the lower award. Last year the higher award went to about $6500 per year for full time (lower stayed at $77). I think the private school students get that same amount, about $6500, as long as they are full time, and it doesn’t matter if you take 12 credits or 18.
I also learned this semester that the BF award was limited to 120 credit. My daughter only got the money for 3 credits this semester as she’d maxed out. I don’t know if there is a limit (maybe 8 semesters?) under the new system.
Under the old system, the BF people didn’t really care if the school charge $1000 per credit or $100, BF paid $103. Now that it is paying $6500, I don’t think they will pay more for private schools, just the UF/FSU/public rate.
@twoinanddone I thought that the private rate for BF was decided based off the lowest average hourly rate out of the 12 Florida publics?
The 120 credit hour limit is a bummer but I will be a lot less worried about it if the new summer Pell sticks around. I’m not getting my hopes up though since this year is the first time it has been established.
In my award letter there was a sheet that stated the hourly amounts being given for the different levels of Bright Futures, my financial aid advisor said over email that since I registered for 18 instead of the projected 15 credits the “change in aid” would be applied to my award.
I did a little looking and it said ‘average’ award was $211 per credit, but it’s hard to tell if that’s the rate they are using at all privates. However, watch out for that 120 credits because although it says 100% of program is covered, they cut my daughter off at 120 even though she needed 131 to graduate (engineer, no minors). I just accepted it because my daughter had other scholarships that covered it for the last semester (it made no difference to the amount I paid) but it was a surprise. So yes, she got ‘extra’ money in the fall for taking 19 credits, she lost it in the spring when she hit the 120 credits.
You do realize that summer pell does not mean that you are getting additional monies. Pell for 2018-2019 has increased by 100 to 6k. If you get summer pell, your you have less money for the fall and spring. Summer tuition at your school is $485/credit (half time is $2910). Even if you get full pell for the school year, it may not cover your full summer tuition. If you use $1500 in the summer, you will have approx $4500 for the rest of the school year ($2250 per term).
I was referring to the newly approved year-round Pell program, which I haven’t seen much talk about on here unfortuntely.
https://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1706.html
(And in a PDF)
https://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/GEN1706.pdf
I understand that the Pell alone wouldn’t cover all expenses if I stayed at my college, but there is a good CC not too far from my house that I would be able to take classes at. My friend’s older sister is attending Flagler and took classes at the CC last year and was able to transfer the credits, and when I brought up the possibility to my FA and admissions advisors they both agreed.
I don’t think you can get a summer Pell Grant to take classes at the community college, if you are enrolled as a student at Flagler.
The above link mentions “transfer students”, but that a doesn’t apply to you.
The BF grant is available for the summer, but this summer only to students who had the grant for 2017-18. They expect it to be extended next year, so @annabanabelle might be able to use that for community college next summer, but not this summer.
Pell is only for a school where a student is a degree seeking student, so not available for summers at another school.
What in the world is the rush? Take the school year, decide what you want to do. @annabanabelle has enough FA to go 8 semesters, so why hurry?
If you did not receive PELL in the 2017-2018 school year, you cannot get summer PELL for this year. When were you planning on attending summer school?
You only get Pell for 12 semesters. If you use up eligibility by doing a summer semester, you could fall short during your final fall or spring semester. It may be better to pay for a course or two out of pocket.
I’d hope 12 terms, be they regular semesters or summers, would be plenty to graduate.