The Florida Lottery rewards hard-working high school students with the Florida Bright Futures scholarship, which pays for either 75 percent or 100 percent of students’ college tuition when they meet the requirements. This includes graduation from high school, enrollment in a Florida public university or college, and the qualifications below.
Scholarship Amount
75 percent of tuition
100 percent of tuition
Minimum ACT/SAT
25/1210
29/1330
High School Weighted GPA
3.00
3.50
Community Service Hours
75 hours
100 hours
These academic standards are no easy feat to accomplish. Many Florida students spend all four years of a high school striving for this level of scholarship, specifically with Bright Futures in mind. This scholarship is many families’ way of paying for college, and it’s the motivation for many Florida students to stay in-state. The Florida Lottery has been providing this scholarship since 1997, helping over 800,000 students pursue higher education in the past 24 years.
So, what’s happening with bright futures now?
Florida Senator Baxley (R, Ocala) has proposed Senate Bill 86, which would amend Bright Futures eligibility. Under the bill, students would only be awarded the scholarship if their course of study falls under a list of “degree programs that they (the Board of Governors and State Board of Education) determine to lead directly to employment.” This means that students who plan to major in STEM or business would be more likely to be rewarded the scholarship, regardless of humanities majors’ equal eligibility. According to Senator Baxley, “when it comes to taxpayer-subsidized education, there needs to be a link to our economy, and that is the goal of this legislation,” (Action News Jax). He argues that tax-paying citizens should not be responsible for contributing to an education that does not guarantee direct employment. This bill would consequentially discourage students from pursuing fields like English, history, art and others alike—because their tuition would not be covered by Bright Futures.
Senate Bill 86 has received huge backlash amongst Floridians. Thousands of families across the state benefit from this program every year, regardless of their student’s intended major. A petition on change.org has already received over forty-five thousand signatures, aided by a multitude of social media posts that have circulated amongst high school students, college students and parents in the last week. Many disagree with the argument that only certain majors lead to employment, and many college graduates are living proof that humanities majors can succeed big-time in the workforce. Additionally, college students change their majors all the time, and this warrants the question of how the amendment would affect a student who changes from STEM/business to humanities, or from humanities to STEM/business. How often would a student’s scholarship eligibility be re-evaluated? How easy would it be to declare a “career-promising” major to receive Bright Futures, and then change it soon after? The bill lends itself to many questions about eligibility and ways around the system.
According to Action News Jax, Senate Bill 86 would go into effect for the 2022-2023 school year if passed, meaning high school graduates of 2023 would have to start looking into “career-promising” majors if they wish to earn a Bright Futures Scholarship.
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