Here are the rules for eligible non citizens for federal financial aid: Federal Student Aid.
2 Likes
I posted above what is required. It used to be BF required the fafsa to be filed, so citizen or qualified non-citizen. That requirement ended years ago and it was just the āgraduate from a Florida schoolā but now that has changed to āus citizen or citizen of a qualified country.ā If OP is a citizen of a qualified country, he has until Aug 31 to apply for BF (you have to apply by 8/31 of the year you graduate from hs, and it used to be you had to start using it within 1 year, so you could take a gap year but not more than that The requirements will not be the same for Florida BF or qualifying for Florida grants as for federal aid. Thatās just Florida for you.
Those private florida schools are pretty expensive. Most of the financial aid packages consider that the student will also qualify for a Pell grant, BF, the Florida EASE grant (for residents going to a private school), SEOG, FL-SEOG and these will all stack with any grants the schools give.
1 Like
Thanks. So, itās changed to ācitizen of a qualified countryā as long as the student is a FL resident&graduated from a FL HS - and I saw that each college would determine what that encompasses.
So, each 4-year public university in Florida should have information about these.
@fzx: college advising seems to have been lacking at your HS, so do you know what the possible public universities in FL are?
(Note that in Florida, a public college= a community college, but a private college= a university, for instance Rollins or Eckerd.)
Note that if youāve got excellent grades and an interesting for them ( * ) profile, some top colleges do not distinguish between citizens and non citizens.
(* it may not be interesting to you but it could be to themā¦ for instance, an applicant didnāt think being bilingual was a big deal since everyone around him spoke English and Spanishā¦ except thatās not the case in Connecticut or Maine and is thus a way to distinguish yourself in their applicant pool. Just one example.)
Just want to say how impressed I am with your academic achievements. A 1380 SAT is NOT just āokā ā itās the 90th percentile! Thatās amazing, especially given that (I assume) English is not your first language. And, you graduated near the top of your class. Take a moment to celebrate how well you have done and follow the great advice on this thread about how to pursue college.
5 Likes
I donāt think thatās correct. A hs student applies to BF directly, not through a college. One must apply by Aug 31 after hs graduation and there is no requirement to apply to a college by that date. Once it is awarded, every college in Florida, even private ones, accept BF. The colleges can determine how it is used. For example, at my daughterās college it could ONLY be used for tuition; not for fees, not for study abroad, not for insurance or r&b or anything else. Fortunately (sarcasm) there was plenty of tuition that needed to be paid. Other colleges allow it to be used for study abroad, fees, or just generally on the bill.
The colleges also have to certify the the student still qualifies for BF. Unfortunately, many do lose it because they donāt take 12 credits, donāt take the right courses like you canāt take a no credit class, repeat a class as part of the 12 credits, drop classes during the semester to take you below 12 credits.
OP should apply for BF. If he doesnāt qualify, BF will tell him that but the hs people shouldnāt be making that determination.
I looked at a website that seemed legit.
That may be what theyāre referring to: āeligible noncitizen, as determined by the studentās postsecondary institutionā
But the full reference is here:
https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/SAPBFMAIN/SAPBFMAIN
I saw that eligibility can change after each legislative session.
I agree OP should apply by August 31.
@MassMom321 thank you! yeah i am bilingual just to make that clear
@MYOS1634 no, i donāt have to use the scholarships for this fall; latest I can use them is spring 2024. while i could do that, i think it may have drawbacks; the cc offers its own scholarships for students. first round of scholarships opens in august and the second round is around february. assuming that you can apply for both if you start in fall, i could be losing potential extra money (even if i dont really know if Iāll need it given what I already have, but still.)
i dont know my exact EFC. when i filled out my fafsa since my understanding is that im not an eligible non-citizen i declared so in the application. when you do that they really donāt give you any info.
some more details since you asked and theyād probably be helpful:
3.9uw, 5.6w gpa
my math progression was alg1, geo hon, alg2hon and then precalc honors. sidenote: loved my precalc teacher bc he wanted us to succeed so he challenged us w/ projects and i did a project where i designed a fake, unit-circle-themed over-the-counter medicine product. like Iām talking designing the packaging using Illustrator, Photoshop and other software then printing it all out to fold into a box. I already had experience w/ Photoshop for image manipulation and making posters but that project really developed me and Iām still really proud of what I made.
in terms of science i took physical sci, bio, chem 1 hon and forensic sci. chem was engaging since our teacher wanted us to succeed.
i took the two AP spanish classes in order junior and senior year. now that AP scores for this year came out literally two days ago i can say I got a 5 on both. before that i took ASL sophomore year so of the 2 needed world-lang credits to graduate i graduated with 3
i also took 6 other APs: english comp (4), english lit (4), apush (3), world history (4) and macro & microecon (3 both). for my lower AP scores ive kind of come to a mental state where im willing to retake the classes in college if I have to, since i didnāt learn very effectively and itād be nice to have a second try at them.
like i said my highest SAT was 1380
when I previously visited the community college, faculty checked my student account and i was told that through my AP classes i have at least 16 credits already, though I donāt know if thatās only for the placeholder AA degree I selected (computer science)ā¦
and also the cc has my hs transcript, but the credits thing was before I sent them my transcript fairly recently
still trying to figure out what visa i have
the public universities here in FL that iām looking at are USF, FSU, UF, FIU and UCF. the CC has a guaranteed admissions program to transfer to USF smoothly but from looking at the transfer agreements page, they donāt really have anything for UF which kinda sucks for me since iād like to transfer to UF because itās probably the best uni in the state. however i also have to admit that my research on all these public colleges is severely lacking and i need to do more. for example iāve gone to USF about twice for journalism competitions ā i liked the campus ā and i know that they could likely give me good merit aid if i apply early but thatās about it.
i guess thereās little point in being secretive about it so to be fully transparent, the cc in question is hillsborough community college.
it does indeed have a honors program, as faculty told me. they also told me apparently thereās separate scholarships for the honors program? and opportunities to travel abroad? so that sounds really fun to me.
last thing iāll add is that in regards to bright futures, i guess i shouldnāt just throw in the towel. if i want to give it a shot though i might have to scramble to do as much community service as i can; i did community service not just with one organization, but i also did it at the school level. however, profferfish (the website we use to register our hours) only has the hours i did with that one organization (48 hours), since i donāt really know how to register those others hours i did at school and other organizations. if i register everything somehow, i believe iād have around 60 hours total based on my own records.
2 Likes
Ask your school counselor how to register your hours or get busy and do some more hours. There are a lot of opportunities.
Make sure you are allowed to travel outside the US if you are still waiting on amnesty or a visa. Many programs would start your time over. (or worse case, you canāt return to the US) if you leave.
1 Like
@fzx : How are you doing?
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If youād like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.