FIS National Merit Finalists Latest Info

@greeny8 It should show up as Predicted in her Awards and Disbursements. If it is not there, you can add it manually, but then I would definitely reach out to Jessica Roth to make sure she is on the roster for FIS/Benacquisto. I am expecting that they will be updating the awards with Benacquisto any day now. That is why I emailed and called SFA.

@blue44 the only award shown is the bright futures. I forgot where I saw a spot to manually put it in, but I recall it said if you were a NMS that you didn’t need to enter it. I will have to give Jessica Roth a call. Do you by any chance have her number? Thanks!

@greeny8 I don’t have a direct line for her, just the admissions number 352-392-1365. Good luck!

Thanks @blue44 I left a message

The predicted Benacquisto scholarship now appears on my daughter’s account as well as her corporate NM scholarship. This equals the COA. Bright Futures, which previously was listed, no longer appears on her account. Does that sound right?

Finally the benacquisto is showing up! It is also showing the bright futures as well as the one time $2500 from national merit.

Predicted Benacquisto is also showing up for my son now. Like @beachmouse , the bright futures was removed. The Benacquisto + UF MN award = COA.

Unless they have changed something, this does not sound right but realize that Bright Futures is based on actual credit hours so perhaps if your student has not registered for fall classes yet, they will not have a BF predicted amount showing. The calculation in the past has been COA - ( NM+BF) = Benacquisto. This is how it worked for my daughter’s account and she is a corporate scholar ands receives $1000 per year which they split up into two $500 increments. So for last year PER SEMESTER it was as follows $20,590 was the COA so divide by 2 and it is $10,295 - ( $500 + $1545) = $8250 This was based on a standard 15 credit semester at the LAST YEAR’S rate for BF of $103 per credit hour. I just checked on my sophomore daughter’s fin aid page and it is exactly as I described but based on this year’s numbers.

is everyones total award for the year equalling $21,260?

Only freshman apparently.My daughter’s appears to be less so I assume the more generous allowance they give freshman is for the assumption that they may need to purchase more initially such as a lap top. Since $21,260 is the COA for incoming, in state freshman for 2016-2017 that should be the total amount. http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/cost/

Do you know from previous years how they distribute the money. Do,y and get a check and use it however you please? Do you need to show proof that you used it towards tuition and room etc? If there is leftover, do you just keep it?

@greeny8 I am happy to answer all your questions and I have done so for many people on this board. I will PM you my cell phone and you can text me and I will call to answer all your questions. I just don’t have time to sit typing today.Happy to help by phone though!

@greeny8 I have the same questions! If you find out anything could you post on this thread?

Hello everyone. I did not apply for bright futures as I thought it was subtracted from the award anyway. Thus my award amounts to 17k instead of the 21k everyone else received. Thoughts?

What do you mean by " I did not apply"?? Do you mean you did not fulfill all the requirements including the community service hours? Does your financial aid report show “Predicted Academic Scholar”? You may be able to apply now if you can get your school guidance counselor to update your records.

To my knowledge, the bright futures application is a separate application that I didn’t apply for. The benacquisto scholarship said bright future funds are subtracted from the scholarship amount anyway.

It isn’t too late!!! Do you have at least 100 community service hours that you can have documented by your high school counselor? Go to this web site and look over the eligibility requirements. http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/ssfad/bf/

Thanks saismom. I looked over that already, but I was asking because in the benacquisto page it says the scholarship is calculated by taking the COA-BF-NM. It seems BF dispersement is subtracted anyway!! Do you see my confusion? That is why I did not apply in the first place!

I just don’t understand how they calculated mine. I have already left a message… Let’s see if they respond back…

You will still get the Bright Futures if you are eligible AND apply in time. My daughter receives National Merit , Bright futures AND Benacqiusto. You need to apply for Bright Futures now. Suppose you lose the Benacquisto for some reason- at least you will have that $3100 + from Bright Futures coming in. I am confused as to why your school guidance department did not advise you to apply?