“General appropriations” means there’s no “multi-year, pre-planned/pre-approved” specific budget line and it can be re-evaluated every year, though. So, if you’re class of 22, you’re good, but if you’re not…
It seems that Benacquisto scholars are “financially safer” at FSU and UCF.
Note that even if it’d not full COA, if it covers Tuition/fees/R&B you’re in really good shape.
S20 is considering FSU. He’s been offered the Honors program and OOS tuition waiver. One thing I’ve noticed is that FSU is very generous with AP credits. They accept 3’s for most/all AP classes and for some if you have 5’s they offer 6 credits. Not saying it’s good or bad…just an observation. Some of his other schools like PSU (in-state) aren’t that generous. It’s a nice perk he’ll have to consider.
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Those credits are especially worth it if they allow him to skip weedout classes or large intro classes, and if it “frees” time for him to take more advanced classes related to his major junior and senior year. They’re not very useful as “random elective credit” though, so look into it: do the credits match specific FSU classes? Do they give credit AND further placement?
The Honors program is also better structured at FSU than UF (UF draws a highly qualified group of students, so I’m talking purely in terms of experience: interactive classes, contact with professors and peers…)
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Thanks for the info about FSU honors. We’ll take a deeper dive soon but it looked like his AP’s will mostly cover required classes so that’s good. Went through this last year with his brother. He’s really appreciating not having to take some of the core classes that are a time suck.
You hit on why I really like AP credits for the flexibility, even for freshman year. When you’re trying to get through required classes it can become a drag. If you can at least take one class that you enjoy or find stimulating it makes the semester more bearable. It gives you something to look forward to. S21 doesn’t love school like S20 does. He’s more “rounded”. He does well in school and actually has more discipline but he also has many more interests so keeping him engaged will be important.
As for Bright Futures cuts hurting AP students it probably depends. If the Florida schools are generous with AP credits maybe it’s not as big hit as feared. Might be a good time to put some common standards for AP/IB credits if this bill passes.
Blockquote “General appropriations” means there’s no “multi-year, pre-planned/pre-approved” specific budget line and it can be re-evaluated every year, though. So, if you’re class of 22, you’re good, but if you’re not…
It seems that Benacquisto scholars are “financially safer” at FSU and UCF.
Note that even if it’d not full COA, if it covers Tuition/fees/R&B you’re in really good shape.
Understood, but when looking at the actual GAA from 2020 (since it seems 2021 isn’t out yet) where do you find the wording referring to Benacquisto funding to compare when 2021 GAA does come out if it went up or down. My thought is that this can be a guage as to how much less/more money the student will receive each year.
SB 86 is now on the Senate agenda for 3/16 at 12:30 p.m., fyi.
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Keep the pressure up on the committee members and your representatives!
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Apparently, Senator Baxley’s office has been busy revising SB86. For example:
"Each state university board of trustees shall adopt procedures to connect undergraduate students to career planning, coaching, and related programs during the first academic year of
the student’s enrollment. Such procedures must be approved by the Board of Governors and include placing a hold on student registration before the end of the first year of each student’s
enrollment. To lift the hold and register for classes, each student shall:
- Register with the university’s career center;
- Complete a career readiness training module provided by the career center; and
- Be directed to the dashboard established in subsection (1)".
Another interesting excerpt:
“By December 31, 2021, the Board of Governors, the State Board of Education, and the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida shall each identify and publish a list of career certificate and undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered by a district career center, charter technical career center, Florida College System institution, independent
college or university, or state university as applicable, which do not lead directly to employment”
So the bill went from identifying the “good” programs to publicly shaming the “bad” programs.
It should be an interesting meeting tomorrow!
Here is a link to Senator Bradley’s comments on the bill even though she still voted for it: https://streamable.com/dpcffo.
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@amsunshine :Thank you for this link
https://www.savebrightfutures.org/track-the-bill
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Public pressure seems to have born fruit: SB86 has been significantly declawed. We need to press on to make sure funding levels do not change for either Bright Futures or Benacquisto.
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Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, sponsored bill (SB 86) initially included a proposal that would have limited Bright Futures and the Benaquisto to only certain majors that had most viable career paths. Thanks in no small part to a huge ground swell of opposition the proposal was amended to exclude this controversial section of the proposed bill, but what still remains in the proposed bill is the removal of guarantee of tuition coverage that Bright Futures provides (either 100% or 75% of tuition and fees) to be replaced with to the amount of money appropriated in the state budget. In other words, whatever they want to change it to on an annual basis. So the fight is not over.
Dirty politics: While reading about this bill I noticed that our good friend Sen. Baxley is also sponsoring (SB 1728) which some are dubbing the “grandparent tuition waiver bill”. This bill waives out-of-state tuition to grandchildren of FL residents. So while attempting to reduce Bright Futures for our children they are attempting to shift those saving to cover out-of-state grandchildren tuition shortfall. Not to mention the increased competition of a huge influx of out-of-state students would cause for our kids. One of the main arguments the supporters of this bill use is that it will attract more smart students to our state universities and colleges. I find this disingenuous at best, because the same people who sponsor/support this bill are the same ones supporting SB 86 which eliminates the Benaquisto scholarship to out-of-state students. For those unfamiliar with the Benequisto scholarship, it is offered to National Merit Finalists. What hypocrisy from our politicians. Patt Maney, R-Shalimar, is sponsoring a House version (HB 1273).
So contact your FL state house representative and senator to tell them not to put Bright Futures funding at risk or steal benefits from our FL kids and give them to out-of-state student grandchildren.
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