@Hoggirl - What vistajay said. Plus, Florida schools may, I believe, also require you to list them as your first choice school by a certain date. Again, best to check each school’s individual requirements.
This is very new as the law was passed just in time for the 2018 grads to use it.
@vistajay - Thanks. I think there are only seven Florida schools that have college-sponsored NM awards, though - right? So, if you are not attending one of those seven schools, you have to qualify for scholar one of the other two ways? That’s how I thought I was reading the FAQ (I scrolled down to page 2).
https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/PDF/factsheets/FIS.pdf
@Hoggirl yes so it would appear. Though I was under the impression that only those 7 schools were eligible for Benacquisto, no matter if a student applying to a different FL school was a NMS.
@hoggirl I didn’t see the list of “eligible institutions” but that would be what I would look for. [Found it. See below.] It looks like if you qualify through one of the other ways listed as a Scholar, you are eligible at more than just those seven schools. [The Florida OSFA website has a list of eligible colleges that is roughly 4 pages long. It would be interesting to see how that works in practice.]
NOTE: “Special” Corporate Scholarships and “Presidential” awards do not qualify a
student for the Benacquisto Scholarship.
@mountainmomof3 – you’re going to be there anyway, so sure, try and see what UF says. I promise you, though, it won’t satisfy you. They will probably tell you that they will work with the legislature to make sure it won’t happen, but they cannot speak for the legislature or make promises on its behalf.
Bottom line - there is no free lunch in this world, and if you go the UF route you are going to have to take a leap of faith and hope for the best regarding the funding being there for all 4 years. FWIW, it would be really crappy for the state to pull the plug on you midstream, but if they would do it to anyone, it would be to an OOS, and the only thing for sure right now is that they did not allocate funding in the legislation last year for the surge in students we all expect to see starting next year.
Just note that the schools that are guaranteeing to step up if anything happens to state funding are the schools that were using their own funds for OOS NM scholarships before Benacquisto was extended. UF had no interest in using its own money to fund NM scholarships before Benacquisto, and certainly will not use its own funds to replace state money if the state money goes away. I will be shocked if you hear differently, but you really do have to ask.
Prediction – you and S19 will be impressed with the student body and the regular offerings available at UF, but will be blown away by the special attention lavished on S19 as a NMSF at UCF. Beyond the unquantifiable, but probably small risk of having funding pulled midstream at UF, S19 has to decide whether it’s more important to be a small fish in a big, higher ranked pond or to be a recruited academic stud at a lower ranked school with an impressive honors college but a decidedly less impressive overall student body. If you are lucky, however, S19 will simply fall in love with the fit and feel of one place over the other, and the decision will be easy, regardless of which school is the winner. If not, you can continue to drive yourself crazy along with everyone else trying to make a decision. 
I’m sure you will report back after your visit. I’ll be anxious to see if your impressions match my own. Good luck!!!
@NJDad00 - I know, I know! I keep wanting to get an answer I will probably not receive. All stems from my desire to classify S19’s schools into 2 camps - NMF schools and non-NMF schools. When only compared to NMF schools than ranking-wise, UF is obviously at the top. But since UF may actually end up being a non-NMF school without warning I then consider it against the other non-NMF schools. But I guess neat and tidy does not always characterize this process!
@mountainmomof3 – my advice is not to overthink it too much. From what I can see from your posts, you are looking at all of the right things and asking all of the right questions. The process really is neat and tidy for the most part. UF is an aberrational outlier because it is an extremely generous scholarship, it is by far the highest ranked school offering such a package to families without financial need, and, as you know, the kicker is that the funding is neither provided by nor guaranteed by the school itself. If all of those factors weren’t in place, there would be nothing to discuss (i.e.: (i) if they were sponsoring the scholarship, having it pulled midstream wouldn’t be a possibility anyone would be talking about; (ii) if it wasn’t so highly ranked, given the uncertainty regarding the funding, it wouldn’t be so high on everyone’s list; and (iii) if the package wasn’t so good, it also wouldn’t be so high on everyone’s list).
My advice is to not drive yourself too crazy, especially before S19 has even visited, and to consider UF an NMF school. While the funding uncertainty is real, I really think the chances are small that they would just cut you off rather than grandfather you in if they were to make a change, which I think they almost certainly will do at some point, but that point could easily be years from now. Also, honestly, would you really be considering it as a regular OOS over the other non-NMF schools you are considering if the scholarship were not available to you? If not, it shouldn’t be considered an non-NMF school just because you don’t have a written guarantee of your COA scholarship for all 4 years.
My strong advice is not to get too too hung up on the rankings. Kids can and do receive great educations and have a great experiences at most schools, from HYPSM down really far in the rankings. If he falls in love with UF when he visits, great! Then take the money when it is offered, and fight the fight if it happens to be pulled midstream, which really is a low, but not zero, probability. If he is underwhelmed, don’t feel like he needs to go because it is the highest ranked school offering you COA, whether or not it is guaranteed. It is the highest ranked public school in Florida; it is not HYPSM, T10, T20, or T30. Highly ranked schools are highly ranked for a reason, but fit and feel for a particular kid is highly personal, and tons of kids turn down higher ranked schools for lower ranked ones every year for a variety of reasons, including size, feel, money, geography, special or unique programming, etc.
Honestly, the most important thing is where S19 will be happy and thrive. Once you figure that out, then focus on what you can afford or what you are willing to pay. Rankings should only matter to the extent they effect happy and thrive. For most people entering most professions the prestige of undergraduate institution does not really matter, the exceptions that leap to mind being Wall Street jobs and MBA programs. Doing well wherever S19 goes matters much more than where he goes. Of course, this doesn’t apply when comparing HYPSM to community colleges, but it really does, for the most part, when comparing one public Florida 4-year university to another, regardless of relative USNWR rankings.
Went to visit UF yesterday. S19 really likes campus and town. Admissions tour was quite good. Things to note - seems like their current acceptance rate is about 30% so I would definitely not consider UF an auto admission just based on NMSF status. A student needs to have the rest of their stats/ECs/essay fairly solid as well. Did not get any info on their NMF scholarship. S19 will need to get those details ironed out down the road.
S19 also met with engineering student for an engineering info session (we could not visit on the same day as any of the formal engineering presentations). This meeting was not terribly informative- the student really seemed unclear on what should have been basic info. We know enough from our research to realize that UF engineering is quite strong and that, although very nice, this student was just not a good representative for the department.
So despite the fact that UF seems to be quite vague in how they would handle a decrease in funding for OOS benaquistos, it will remain a strong contender if S19 is admitted and obtains NMF status.
ETA: touring UCF today
I spoke with UF’s financial aid and they responded that Benacquisto for out of state students is only guaranteed for this current school year. They said that the state legislature would decide in the spring whether to continue awards for OOS students. If the state takes the funding away, next year’s entering students will NOT get the Benacquisto scholarship.
Anyone from FL have info on timing of this decision or any indication on whether it will be renewed? I didn’t realize it would be up for a vote again so soon. Also, if you have any info about the bill number or where we can follow it online, please let me know. Thank you!
@se1619 - I’m very surprised that UF was so pessimistic so soon. You aren’t incorrect in thinking that the scholarship bill doesn’t require a vote every year. The bill creating the scholarship was, in fact, a one and done thing. The issue that we have been stressing about for the past year is that state politics are subject to ebbs and flows, and it’s the funding that pretty much always has to be approved every year, everywhere, because that’s how governmental budgets and funding allocations work.
The can of worms you have just opened with your post, however, is not merely whether next year’s entering OOS will have the scholarship available to them. It’s also whether this year’s class will have its funding for the next three (or four) years grandfathered in or pulled as well.
So, the short answer to your question is that there is no specific Benacquisto scholarship bill for you to follow this year. You have to see whether or not the law that was passed last year creating the scholarship is funded for next year. That would probably be in some educational funding bill.
They did say that if funding is cut, at that time they will address what will happen with current students, but they were very clear that no funding would mean no scholarship for incoming students.
So since there’s a chance that the scholarship will lose funding this spring, which would make OOS class of 2023 students ineligible for the scholarship?
Would love to know if anyone has any updates on this thread. I have an NMF who has been accepted to UF and the Honors Program and we are from OOS. We, of course, have the same concern regarding whether funding will stay in place not only for the upcoming school year (2019-20) but for ALL years of attendance. Received no other aid other than a $2k Research scholarship and there’s no way we would be able to afford OOS cost without a lot more help than that. I emailed the Florida Dept of Education and was told that “while it is not expected that Benacquisto funding will be discontinued, there is no guarantee that funding will continue until the student graduates. Our website is updated on July 1 with the latest legislative changes…” What?? We can’t wait until July 1st! Do we turn down other NMF offers based on a “hope”? This would be an amazing opportunity but the uncertainty may be a little too nerve wracking!
D had exact same offer but got into dream school. You can follow follow Fl legislature proceedings. Seems highly likely long term funding will go through as two political adversaries one representing K-12 ed and one representing higher ed have agreed to support each others plan… Well see. No better University(even though the funding is from the state) in the country offering this type of automatic( assuming its there) full ride!
@SMC0226 I also just emailed the Florida Dept. of Ed. to ask them the process for OOS Benacquisto (haven’t heard back yet). My son has been accepted at U Miami, but the rep (probably a student) I spoke to at Miami didn’t seem very knowledgable about the Benacquisto process and after putting me on hold just referred me to the DOE website. I’m not being helpful to answering your original question, but wonder if you were given any guidance on how to make sure the scholarship is awarded once your son commits to UF?
http://www.flsenate.gov/Media/PressReleases/Show/2884 and then https://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/2019/01/10/floridas-higher-education-funding-is-up-for-grabs-in-2019-house-chairman-says/
and within thathttps://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?PublicationType=Committees&CommitteeId=3006&Session=2019&DocumentType=Meeting%20Packets&FileName=hea%201-10-19.pdf
hope that helps some, but it just made me nauseous.
The fact is that nothing will be settled until Florida’s budget is settled and passed… Which has occurred between late March and Mid May in the past 5 yrs.
@SMC0226 – I don’t think you fully understood the answer. July 1st is the date they will post any changes EVERY YEAR. The odds are that you will be fine, but you will never have the certainty you seek until the summer before your son’s senior year.
No free lunch – this uncertainty is the price you will pay for a full ride at a school as highly ranked as UF, where the funding is not coming from the school, but rather, from a political body with all the uncertainty inherent in that. Florida has elections like the rest of the country, and what is a priority today will not necessarily be one tomorrow. It would absolutely suck if they left you stranded midway through, but it would be relatively easy for them to do since you are an OOS non-taxpaying non-constituent.
You are asking the right questions, and you are getting honest answers that are not misleading in any way. It might not be what you want to hear, but at least you know the situation. UF could alleviate your concerns by offering you a guarantee, but they did not offer such a generous scholarship before this program began last year, and apparently they have no intention to use their dollars to do so in the future if anything happens to state funding, since they are hearing the concern from lots of folks and are only addressing it by saying they will do everything they can to protect the students (short of giving them a written guarantee!).
So, you now have all the facts and can make a decision with your eyes wide open. There will very likely be full funding for 2019-20 (since it has been proposed and there doesn’t seem to be any significant opposition to it), and you will have no way to know what the next 3 years will look like until this time in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Beyond the political uncertainty inherent in future elections, it is probably also worth noting that the OOS part of this program was brand new last year, and was approved so late in the admissions cycle that relatively few OOS people even knew it was a possibility in time to apply to UF last year. This means that this is the first real full year of the program for OOS students, and that the cost to the state will double next year (as both freshmen and sophomores will be participating), before doubling again in 2022-23 as the program is fully populated with 4 classes of students. The real test of the state’s commitment to the program will be whether they continue to fund it at that point, as opposed to their commitment to fund it this July for the first full year of the program.
The legislation specifically does not guarantee future funding in order to not bind future legislatures. You have to decide if the relative prestige and quality of a UF education is worth the small risk of a loss of funding. I think an interesting way to look at it would be as follows: How would you feel if the scholarship were coming from any particular school itself, as opposed to from a state? If University X offered you a full COA 4-year scholarship that was not guaranteed renewable each year, depending on institutional finances and priorities, is it something you would consider? If so, you should go for it. If not, why would you take a chance on another state’s flagship where you are explicitly being denied a guarantee by both the school and the state department of education? Basically, you are being asked to make a 4 year decision based on a 1 year commitment and a 3 year present intention!
@RW1 Thank you, glad to know that the budget is usually passed earlier than June, but I believe we have to make the first choice declaration by May 1st at some schools, so I guess I will be watching very closely. Even if it does pass, not sure I want to go through this every year. If Florida is trying to attract OOS NMF kids, seems like this is a flaw in the bill that should be addressed. We do not the rug pulled out from under us.
@kforty2 I sort of got the same reaction when I called UF about the Benacquisto. Think it was a student as well and I did not exactly feel reassured.
@NJDad00 Thank you for laying it all out for me. You’ve really helped me to think this through. That is basically what I have gathered after researching the issue further. I agree that it looks good for the upcoming year, but unless we can have more reassurance than that from UF, we may have to pass it up as given our current financial circumstances, we are not in a position to take a lot of risk. Given that the OOS COA is 43k per year, I’m not sure I could sleep not knowing if we were facing a bill of $0, 43k, 86K or 129K. Yikes!