Bright Futures is for Florida high school students. You must graduate from a Florida high school, you must apply before you graduate or you don’t qualify. It doesn’t cover tuition, it is $77 or $103 per credit, so about $2300 to $3000 per year. Tuition is about $7000 at the big schools for 30 credits per year.
It is nice to have, it is one of the scholarships my daughter uses to stack all her scholarships and grants and loans to get her COA covered; I think she had 9 different line items as credits on her bill this semester. However, the OP’s daughter will not qualify for BF because she is not graduating from a Florida high school.
The OP is not likely to get a mystical full ride for college. Least expensive route will be a 2 year degree and then switch to an instate FL school at about $16000 per year
^
maybe and maybe not.
I don’t think an instate school would only be about $16k per year, particularly 3-4 years from now. I think the better FL publics are now running about $22k-25k per year for instate.
If the DD can get free tuition or maybe more right now at a university, it may end up being about the same or less than the CC to Univ route. And I would guess that a student who saw herself attending Cornell or Georgia Tech would not likely enjoy attending a Florida CC first.
I would venture that because of Bright Futures and some good merit opps in Florida, that students with this student’s stats are less likely going to be starting at a Floridal CC.
All 12 Public Universities (SUS) in Florida follow the same residency rules. It’s determined by state statue, UCF can’t have different rules from FSU. The websites may present the information differently, but the rules are the same. Of course, one should always talk to a college rep to confirm (vs some random internet folks…). Then again, sometimes the college rep doesn’t get it right. 
http://www.flbog.edu/documents_regulations/regulations/2011_03_24_7_005_Residency_Regulation_FINAL.pdf
UF’s cost of attendance (COA) is currently $20,590 for in-state students. UF has one of the lowest COA’s in the state system, due to low fees (very low athletic fees, since the Gators are a money making machine), and low cost of living in Gainesville. FAU is an example of one of the highest, due to higher fees and higher cost of living in South Florida: $ 22,856.
Well, if the student’s stats meet the full ride criteria, FAMU seems like an $88,000 (in-state) to $148,000 (out-of-state) better financial fit than FSU is, and it seems that engineering and cost are the primary criteria. One does not have to be black to attend a historically black school, just as one does not have to be white to attend a historically white school.
Since FSU is on the OP’s list, Tallahassee location is presumably acceptable.
That is a high estimate, M2CK. Most parents I know figure about $20k with absolutely no aid, and full meal plans, books, transportation. You are right that most students who qualify for Bright Futures (good scores and high gpa) do not go to CC, but that’s true in most states, that traditional students with high stats go to 4 year colleges. The cost of tuition at the 4 year colleges makes the difference between the cost of CC and 4 year schools small, so more are going to pick the 4 year schools in Florida.
I think the students can also live off campus for a lot less after freshman year.
Tuition plus room and board is around 16-17k…
Most get around $3k for bright futures and not hard to get the $2400 scholarship.
That easily covers more than the books, travel and miscellaneous expenses one could pile on.
Bright Futures isn’t going to help,this student. She didn’t graduate from HS in Florida.