@saismom Would the scholarship still cover the total COA even after taxes? I’ve applied for a few outside scholarships but don’t have especially high hopes of getting them.
Side question, I saw in another thread in the NM forum that the FIS is equal to the amount of the “highest COA of all Florida public universities” but somewhere else (don’t remember where) said that it was equal to the minimum COA.
Edit: haha! I went back and looked and it was actually YOU who said it pays highest COA! So I guess that answers that question. For anyone wondering FSU has the highest at ~22k
For any Finalists who might still be thinking this deal is too good to be true, I emailed Max Mauney and asked specifically whether ALL Finalists could count on getting the UF-sponsored scholarship, and therefore the FIS, and he said:
"For the 2015-16 year, the University of Florida’s Office of Admissions agreed to offer college-sponsored National Merit Scholarships to Finalists who did not receive a National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) one-time award or a corporate-sponsored scholarship, provided the Finalists ranked UF as their first choice with NMSC. It is my understanding that Admissions intends to continue this practice for incoming Finalists for the 2016-17 year.
Receiving one of the college-sponsored scholarships would make you eligible for the Florida Incentive Scholarship, assuming you meet all the other requirements for the FIS program. You can read more about the program on the Florida Department of Education’s website: http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/home/uamain.htm
If you have additional questions about National Merit or Florida Incentive scholarships, you may wish to contact Zack O’Neill or Jessica Roth. Zack is the assistant director over state of Florida scholarships at UF, and Jessica is the Admissions scholarship coordinator. I am not currently involved with these scholarships, as I am working another project for UF.
Congratulations on achieving the designation as National Merit Finalist and I wish you the best of luck in your academic endeavors."
@Anglograce This is awesome that you contacted Mr. Mauney and now have updated the info for all on this forum!!! The FIS is not equal to the highest COA. It is equal to whatever the COA is for your specific sponsoring Florida school.
To clarify- if you choose to use the FIS at a NON SPONSORING ( you can ONLY do this if you are a named corporate NM scholar or a one time $2500 NM scholar) such as Florida Tech or Ringling, then the COA that is used is the highest one in the group of state schools that participate in National Merit such as FSU ( currently the highest).
For those who are NM finalists but ARE NOT CORPORATE or one time named NM Scholars and choose to attend one of the participating Florida NM schools such as :
Florida State University,
• New College of Florida,
• University of Central Florida,
• University of Florida,
• University of Miami, and
• University of South Florida.
Then they will receive the COA for that particular school- not the highest COA unless they attend FSU. Does that make sense?
@Anglograce Any outside scholarship you happen to bring to UF will have no bearing on the FIS. You will receive the following from UF and from the state. The published total COA MINUS (Bright Futures + NM award). A ball park figure is roughly $500 from UF for the actual NM award, $17,000 from the FIS and $3090 from Bright Futures. Add them together and you get the COA for UF for 2015-2015 which is $20,590. That COA changes each year and the new estimates are up on the web site for 2016-2017 and are $21,890 but that may change. The Bursar’s office will bill FL Pre Paid first, if you have it, and then they bill Bright Futures and the FIS. Any outside scholarships are then usually used ,if needed. Since you would be an FIS scholarship student, your bookstore purchased books, on campus housing and meal plan will all be deferred until the monies are disbursed. Most kids end up with excess funds and if they give permission for direct deposit, these excess funds simply get refunded to your checking account or to whichever account you designate. You must report all outside scholarships to UF even if the check is just made out to you since these funds are subject to taxes.
Remember these numbers for the items such as books and food and housing are just estimates. You may be in a more expensive dorm such as Hume, Cypress or Infinity or a less expensive housing arrangement. You may not choose to get a meal plan. Also many kids buy their books from Ebay or Amazon or Chegg or just rent them so they greatly reduce that cost as well. The only set fees really are the tuition and mandatory “fees” section. If you take an online class, that fee is extra and lab fees and material fees are also extra and are not considered under the tuition and fees section. It all evens out usually and most FIS kids do end up with some excess funds to pocket and save.
@saismom I have a question that I can’t even seem to get answered when I called the FL Dept of Ed… If FL defunds FIS, would our kids be grandfathered in for the remainder of their 10 semesters? My daughter received something from Florida Central saying that if FIS was defunded they would give her an $8,500/ year scholarship. Does UF do anything for them if FIS is defunded? My daughter loves Uf but since the actual scholarship money coming from UF is so low, so is concerned about taking that offer over a full ride or close to full ride from another school that funds its own scholarship (not Florida Central) if she has to worry that in a year she may have nothing but $500 a year off her tuition! Do you have any idea what the answer is to this dilemma? Also, did your daughter participate in sorority rush? Do you know if many girls living in Hume do? Thanks for all your help!
@fbhsmom I cannot answer your question specifically regarding whether or not our kids would be grandfathered in if the FIS is defunded but I would make a fairly confident assumption that it would be very bad indeed if the state suddenly chose to let down all these students when they are currently enrolled and matriculating at a university. I can only suggest that you keep aware of what is going on in the house and senate and write to your congressman if you value this scholarship. After all, this scholarship was designed to KEEP the best and brightest in the state of Florida. Sorry cannot help you regarding sorority rushing other than to say that Hume is not one of the closer dorms to the sorority row area.The two suite mates ( sorority girls) on the other side of my daughter’s room are rarely there.
Regarding why UCF told you this information: that is very simple. UCF is in direct competition with UF and has had a large share of NM kids prior to the FIS since UF did not participate in National Merit until last year. UCF spends big bucks trying to attract these bright kids. ( they put us up in a hotel and toured us around in a golf cart when we visited). With the advent of the FIS, kids in Florida have greater choices for a full ride and while UCF is a great school with many merits, it is not on the same stage as UF.
@fbhsmom I just checked the record for the 2/28 Education Appropriations offer #1 for both the house ( this was on 2/27 and 2/28 respectively) and saw that both the house and senate were in agreement with the same numbers for the FIS. They included an estimate of new students enrolling into the program and the totals for 2016-2017 were on the order of $12,936,129 which is an increase. Since both the house and senate are in agreement with these numbers and seemingly with the program itself and Gov. Scott chose to fund it in his earlier proposed budget ( which he DID NOT DO in 2015-2016) , I am taking a leap and saying that it should be safe for 2016-2017. By the way, if you want to look it up yourself, it is called the “Florida National Merit Program”.
I’m freaking out (in a good way) - I was offered the presidential scholarship!! $2500 each semester!! So of course I’m wondering now if this is stackable with the FIS? Since the FIS “formula” accounts for Bright Futures and the small national merit award itself, what happens to a scholarship like this??
The FIS is a STATE scholarship- NOT a UF scholarship. I cannot believe that they would not allow you to have both but I really do not know. They are separate awards and come from completely different sources and are awarded based on merit- not need. Please let us know what you find out and congratulations all!!
@fbhsmom Congrats to your daughter! I was on the UF 2020 thread that you confirmed that the Presidential and FIS are stackable. My S also got the Presidential for 8K per year. Does this mean that he would get Bright Futures, then FIS would cover difference to cost of attendance, then he would get Presidential on top of that? He would come out with 8K per year above COA, plus a refund of Florida Pre-paid? This seems crazy.
@blue44 You do not get a refund from FL pre-paid unless that is what you want.If you want to PM me I can give you all the details but it is actually better to use pre-paid ( unless you want to pass it on to a sibling). UF will bill them first anyhow, then use the Bright Futures and NM , FIS and the other scholarship.You must actually contact Pre-paid if you want a refund ( I do not recommend this) or you can “opt out” of pre paid on a per semester basis.
@blue44 We were told that. Well, prepaid technically is your money so you get it back. FIS is supposed to combine the 500/year merit scholarship which triggers it with the bright futures and then pay the difference to fill in to complete the cost of attendance. The State gets a list from UF of those who get the NMF scholarship and therefore qualify. Since the state administers both FIS and Bright futures it makes sense that they coordinate all of this. The Presidential Scholarship is unrelated and I don’t believe there is any reason the state would be tracking it so it makes sense to me. We were told it was the same with scholarships at FSU too. I guess I will believe it when I see it! Any excess money left over after your bills are paid to UF will be directly deposited into the students account if you set it up that way on their account. That is what we were told today by the financial aid folks. Your scholarship sounds like even more than my daughters! Her’s is 20k, 5k per year, also called the Presidential Scholarship. I am not sure how they determine the award but we are glad she will get it!
That is not accurate regarding Pre-paid. They bill Pre-paid first unless you specifically opt out of pre paid or cancel it… If you want to call me I can explain it specifically to you. PM me and I will share my contact info. I cannot imagine UF would suddenly change how this is processed. The bursar’s office handles this- not financial aid by the way.
They’re definitely done sending out all the Presidential Scholarship offers?
Do you have to be an enrolled student (paid the deposit) to get an NM offer from UF? If so, can I still wait till May 1st to decide and get FIS guaranteed?
You can wait till May 1st to enroll at UF, but you have to notify NMSC that UF is your institution by May 31st, BUT I recommend that you should let NMSC knows few days before May 1st, so NMSC can send your name to UF in 2nd roster. ( I think the 1st roster is just sent out ). After UF gets your deposit money and the roster with your name from NMSC, UF will send you a form that you and your parent have to sign and return by deadline. Then you will be guaranteed for FIS. By August you will see PREDICT scholarships… But the money will be in your account few weeks after school starts. If you have housing and meal plan you can ask to defer until the scholarships money come in. Be greatful that you can go to UF for free and don’t have to worry any debt. :-j
