Keeping Bright Futures

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
1

<p>What do you have to get to maintain 100% Bright Futures, GPA-wise? I might get a C in one of my classes and I am scared that I am going to have to drop out and move back home. Oh, joy.</p>

2

<p>3.0 with at least 6 credits per semester and you can possibly raise the GPA over the summer if necessary. If you only have a 2.75, you can downgrade to the 75% scholarship. Also, you can possibly restore the scholarship one time if you are able to get the GPA up in the future.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/factsheets/BF.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/factsheets/BF.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>Here's another useful link that sheds some light on the implications of dropping a course:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/ssfad/bf/renewpg.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/ssfad/bf/renewpg.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"What happens if a student wants to drop a class or withdraw from school after a term's drop/add period?</p>

<p>A student should contact his/her postsecondary institution's financial aid office regarding its policy on withdrawal and how that policy may affect the scholarship. The postsecondary institution is required to provide funding for the number of hours for which the student is enrolled at the end of the last day of the drop/add period. If the student drops or adds hours afterward, the postsecondary institution is not required to revise the award amount; however, hours dropped may affect the student's renewal eligibility."</p>

<p>Based on this, it seems to me that a student is able to drop a course with the only penalty being that the number of credits of the course has been wasted. There is a limit of 132 hours that can be charged against with Bright Futures. I suppose if you got some credits from AP and/or IB then that would provide you with some "free spins", so to speak, but I don't know for certain. </p>

<p>It would probably be a good idea to confirm this with UF. The only mention I found of this at UFL.edu is:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/programs/brightfutures.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/programs/brightfutures.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Of course, a "W" does go on the student's permanent record for every course dropped after the drop/add deadline. After your first term, you should probably have a very good excuse before dropping a course, otherwise it might impact your applications to selective grad schools, scholarships, etc.</p>

4

<p>Relax elweezer, they only calculate BF GPA at the end of the spring semester, not each semester, plus they will recalc at the end of the summer if you petition, so if you need to go to a CC in the summer and take an easy A class or 2 to pull up the GPA you can do that. Our local CC is full of kids doing that in the summer.</p>