The Bright Futures Scholarship is a scholarship awarded to students of certain high schools to pay for post secondary education. Funded by the Florida Lottery, it includes five different types of scholarships, including the Florida Academic Scholars (FAS), the Florida Medallion Scholars (FMS), the Gold Seal Vocational Scholars (GSV), the Gold Seal CAPE Scholars (GSC) and the Home Education (HE) Program. These different categories serve to accommodate the different interests and situations of high school students.
General requirements for these programs include a Florida residence, a high school diploma and plans to begin college. Additional criteria include standardized test scores and service hours, with adjustments based on the difficulty level of the program. The different programs vary in their criteria and, thus, the awards. For example, FAS covers 100% of tuition, including extra money for random expenses, while FMS covers 75% of tuition without the additional stipend.
A recently proposed bill by Fla. Republican Senator Dennis Baxley seeks to modify the Bright Futures requirements. Primarily, he wants to ensure all the scholarship money is used for people to learn a career. This would decrease the national shortage of skilled workers and people in technical careers.
Career lists would be modified each year to adjust to what jobs are in need of more workers. Those who choose careers outside of that list would only receive a scholarship for two years, with the hope that those students would switch to majors that “guarantee” a job. Known as SB 86, the bill, if passed, will go into effect July 1, 2021, with Senator Baxley allowing time for current students to shift their majors to accommodate the change.
Additional requirements added with the bill include firmer regulation on the post secondary institutions that are in charge of distributing the money. These colleges and universities will need to regulate more closely the use of the scholarship money to prevent funds from being used outside of college fees. If malfeasance occurs, SB 86 has strict punishments.
SB 86 also bars the use of the scholarship on classes already taken by high school students, for example AP or Dual Enrollment classes, even if the college requires those classes to graduate. SB 86 aims to become more inclusive by reducing the criteria to qualify, like standardized testing, and creating new grant programs for a wider range of scholars, including those who have not graduated from high school.
Responses to this proposed bill have been varied. Primarily pushed by Fla. Republicans, SB 86 does not have much support from many Fla. Democrats and students entering college. A major component they disagree with is the restriction of the available majors on this new bill. It prevents many students from switching majors and might force certain students into majors they do not want. Creative majors that are not under the branch that the scholarship approves are not supported, preventing some students from studying the majors they want to take. These opponents recommend other methods to increase participation in a technical field, placing an emphasis on finding a solution that does not harm those in other fields.
“Bill SB86 shows the extent to which some senators are looking to cut higher ed spending. However, if passed, this bill would hurt students in certain majors by reducing their scholarship,” college advisor Mr. Erik McLeod said. “The bill could also discourage current high school students from pursuing those majors the bill has targeted. All majors are valuable in their own way; I don’t believe in assigning dollar values to some and not others.”
They also cite the impact on low-income students if their funding is removed. As the change is immediate, students currently enrolled in degrees that are not given funding will lose funding for their remaining years in college.
“The most problematic [portion of the bill] is the reduction in financial aid for students who may not be able to afford higher education without these scholarships,” sophomore Rosa Wu said. “Going to college is especially important for low-income students and the bill will definitely be a great barrier to that.”
However, proponents say that the incentivization of technical certificates is a positive aspect.
Baxley reason that the arts and humanities are important, but they just aren’t practical as careers. Fiscally, supporters of Senator Baxley believe it to be smart to allocate money towards degrees where students are basically guaranteed a job after graduation. It ensures that students will have money immediately after college, and there will be a greater financial return when those students enter the workforce doing what they consider to be pragmatic jobs.
SB 86 was debated slated to be debated and edited in the legislation committee March 9, 2021. The bill was preemptively tabled, meaning the session regarding the bill was postponed due to large opposition to a bill. However, Senator Baxley rejected any amendments to the bill and it managed to pass through the Senate Education Committee in a 5-4 vote
