SB86 is included in the agenda for the Senate Appropriations committee meeting this Wednesday 3/31/2021 at 1:00 EDT. Not really high on the agenda tho, #14 in a list of 19.
Included as the first line item in the agenda is SPB2500- Appropriations. According to the line item 65 in the bill (Page 14 of the PDF), they are appropriating $33.91 million. They appropriated $26.58 million for fiscal year 2020-21 (line item 67, page 15). That is an increase of $7.33 million. I am hoping that it is a good sign
I spoke with the executive budget analysts and the amount in the GAA ($33.9 million) this year is enough to fully fund Benacquisto. That could be because they are still require to right now because SB 86 has not passed. The fight is not over, contact the Senators on the Appropriations Committee ASAP.
Dis34556 FYI I have a daughter (Jr.) at MSU on Full COA but not NM Scholar. She is a CS/E major. She enjoys the school and surrounding area. (small town) She applied for one paid internship and secured it at Warner Robbins AFB this summer. (Great opportunity) Great program!
I am not one of the parent experts on this, so those of you who are, please feel free to correct this! If I am understanding it correctly, the bill passed the Florida Appropriations Committee yesterday.
The provisions that seem relevant to my class of '25 OOS child seem to be:
OOS students who āinitially enrollā through 2021-22 academic year still qualify. So this yearās graduating class is the last OOS class.
The award amount is changed from ācost of attendanceā to āas specified in the General Appropriations Act.ā So the amount the scholarship is subject to political risk.
Honestly, I think my child will take the risk - sheās in love with a FL school, Benacquisto is a bit of a ābonusā as we had never heard of it until a few months ago, and if the state legislature changes its mind about the amount weāll just have to figure out what to do from there. Maybe the university will cover a shortfall (not one of those that has publicly committed) or maybe sheāll have to transfer somewhere else.
Would love to hear how other parents are thinking about this. I suspect it is quite different for those of you who were not ignorant like me and put together a college application list counting on or hoping for this scholarship! Or for those who are already enrolled in reliance on the scholarship!
The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday. It has yet to be passed by the full Senate. There is no companion bill in the house at this time.
Yes, the award amount is changed in this bill from full cost of attendance to āas specified in the General Appropriations Act.ā While the senators might be hostile to the concept of significant academic merit scholarships, it appears the Governor may favor them, so it has yet to be seen what will happen. Also, from what Iāve read, the House members donāt seem particularly interested in this topic at this time.
My D20 is a freshman at FSU on the Benacquisto. We are really hoping this does not pass.
My OOS Benacquisto kid is a junior so we only have his senior year to deal with any lowered scholarship amount. The Benacquisto monetary āvalue,ā after you take OOS tuition out of it, is about $21,000. I doubt theyād ever lower that by more than $2,000-$3000 in the general budget process, if at all. Plus, I think his school, FSU, would make up any difference for him. So not too concerned about him.
Iāve also got an S22 who will be a NMF. Heāll still seriously look at FSU and Miami, as I think those schools will maintain their own robust OOS scholarships. Doubt heāll still consider UF. Even if this bill does not pass this year, I just donāt trust the FL Legislature any longer to uphold the commitment they made to these kids.
Looks like SB86 passed in the senate yesterday. Kids entering in 2021-22 will probably be the last batch of OOS students to receive the Benaquisto scholarship. This is so sad, from the past data I saw some where(I cant find it now) approximately 200 kids, give or take a couple get the OOS Benacquisto. That will not be more than $4 to 5 million per year. Not sure what they accomplished by this bill but prove that they are myopic, really have nothing to offer to their base, so just pass some nonsense bills to pretend that they are doing something and saving people money. Really?$5 is next to nothing compared in the big picture.
I am an OOS student hoping to go to UF starting in the 2021-22 academic year. So far, I believe that 21-22 is the last year of OOS eligibility. But, I am wondering if the renewal process will remain intact. If I get Benaquisto my freshman year, can I still renew it for the next three? I am essentially grandfathered in? I havenāt seen anything in the updated bills that says anything. Honestly, if renewal is possible, I will probably commit. The statutes said that there would still be an exemption of out-of-state fees (which I am assuming contains OOS tuition), and just in-state tuition and costs would make it cheaper than my in-state school. I donāt know if all of this is correct, and I would really appreciate the help. If anyone has any more information or needs to correct me, please do so!
This is new, fairly vague legislation that has not passed as of now. Pretty hard to counsel you, and pretty hard to make decisions based off it. The way I read it: your year is the last one for OOS Benacquisto, you will receive it all 4 years (absent some future change), and the amount you receive each year will be subject to the whims of the state budgetary process and will be unknown until June of each year. I think you are right that, at a minimum, youāll receive the OOS waiver. I strongly suspect your scholarship will continue to be funded at 80-90% COA. Iād probably take the risk if my other college options were coming in at more than $10,000-$15,000 a year, and I really wanted to go to UF. The upside, and still quite possible scenario, is that youāll have a full COA scholarship to UF that leaves you with no debt.
iām quite confident that ATLEAST tuition and housing and prolly food will be covered for the next 4 years. it may be short a couple thousand for the miscellaneous stuff, but thatās still a helluva deal.
My daughter got the Gator nation scholarship, which will make the COA (before Benacquisto) at UF equal to our state flagship after the $10,500 NMF scholarship they give her. We live an hour away from the in-state option, and we visited UF during Spring Break. She really liked the UF campus very much and thinks she can see herself there. So we are planning to sleep on it for one more night and if everything remains the same, make UF the first choice and put down the deposit.
Also, If I am not mistaken, the legeslative session for this year will end on April 30th and the last day for committees is April 20th. The House education committee has a meeting on April 19th and I did not see SB 86 on the agenda and the house does not have any companion bills. And if the house does not take any action on the bill does it not mean it is dead, at least for this legislative session? And as other posters have suggested, I think this years kids will be OK , bill or no bill.
I donāt see that the House has introduced a bill on this topic. With only a couple weeks left in the session, is Benacquisto in the clear for this year?
I havenāt seen one in the House, either. On the SaveBrightFutures website, it says that the next step is for the House committees to review and discuss/debate the bill. So Iām not sure if itās absolutely necessary for the House to introduce a bill of its own.
I donāt see anything on calendar as yet for the House in terms of review for the bill so Iām hoping it will just die, lol.
Hi guys! Iām a CO 25 OOS student who was 100% on committing to UMiami until I caught wind of this bill. I had a few quick questions that Iām not sure if anyone knows the answers to, but I figured I should shoot my shot. If anyone knows pls lmk!
Miami sponsors a scholarship equal to the highest COA of a Florida public school. Does this funding come from the state, or from the institution itself since itās private?
I know if the bill is passed UF will not be backing funding, but since places like FSU have already said they would probably back funding and their COA is only an few thousand less, is it possible that UM will just shift their program to match the COA of those institutions?
Iām just trying to gauge how āsafeā my scholarship is if i commit. A fluctuation of a couple thousand is doable for my family but a huge change is definitely not.
Benacquisto is state funded. At Miami, a private school, it is worth about $22,000 a year when fully funded. If this law passes it may be less from year to year depending on the state budget process. Will Miami make up any shortfall? You need to contact admissions and try to wrangle an answer.
Itās not a companion bill. According to the Protect Bright Futures FB page, House Bill 1273 would have to pass both houses by next Friday, which according to them is unlikely at this point (but not impossible).
So, lets say they pass HB 1273 in both house and Senate, and let SB86 expire (die for this legislative session), then the current entering class will get COA even if they are OOS?
