As many of our students depend on Bright Futures in order to pay for college, it is important to make everyone aware of some recent changes to the application process. Unlike in the past, all students must complete a FAFSA form in order to receive the scholarships. The FAFSA is the Free Application for Financial Student Aid and it can be found at FAFSA.gov. As this has been common practice with entry for other financial aid outlets such as Pell Grant and others like it. On top of the new requirement of completing the form, it must also be error-free. So, please be aware that not completing an error-free FAFSA will end up in your student not receiving money for the upcoming Fall 2011 semester. This applies to students who currently receive Bright Futures and to new applicants.
Other things to take note of with the new changes to Bright Futures:
There has been an increase in the community-service requirement (and hours increase for Florida Academic Scholars) for all three Bright Futures award levels. These changes are highlighted below:
- Florida Academic Scholars – 100 hours
- Florida Medallion Scholars – 75 hours
- Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars – 30 hours
The Florida Department of Education is required to approve home education community service hours for Bright Futures initial eligibility. So be sure to turn-in your community service hours as soon as possible for approval to decrease the chance of late entry.
All changes can be found at this link: Florida Bright Futures
What are your reactions to these changes? Does your child currently receive the Bright Futures and how will this affect your and your child’s application process this year?
Hello, I was reading about the Bright Futures above; I noted that homeschoolers have to receive FL DOE approval for community service hours and that these hours have to be turned in. I have a few questions:
1) I am having a hard time figuring out just what qualifies as service hours. How can I check to find out if my child’s volunteer hours qualify?
2) How does the FL DOE approve Homeschool service hours? Who gives permission?
3) Where do we ‘turn in’ these hours?
4) What is the organization that receives the hours and validates the hours?
Thank you so much for your time and consideration, Kristi Saxon
Kristi,
You might want to check with your local school board about acceptable service hours, but here is a link for Broward County: http://browardschools.com/schools/service_learning.htm. Beverly Lahtinen works at Bright Futures and has always been very helpful when I have had questions. You can find more information for home schooled students and her contact numbers at: http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/ssfad/bf/homepac.htm
My son takes FLVS classes online and is enrolled with Florida Unschoolers. Will he still qualify for Bright Futures or does he have to register as a home education student with the local public school district?
Wendy,
To qualify for Bright Futures your son must be registered as a home education student with the county, be a private school student, or be a public school student. You can refer to the web page Sarah posted above for more information as to the requirements for home education students.
Here is the link for the page which will help you with other links, including the general eligibility requirements and the requirements for each award level.http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/bf/firstapp.htm
Requirements are different for home education students versus public or private school students as well as being different based on graduation year. You will want to compare the requirements for home ed versus the private and public options.
From your post I can’t tell if you are registered with FLVS in the county virtual program or as an FLVS Classic program (the oldest version of FLVS which is its own program, not associated with any county program)
Hope this helps!
Do homeschoolers now to need to turn in community service hours? It was my understanding that the higher SAT requirements meant that there was no further need for documentation. Not anymore?
When does a student fill out the FAFSA? My daughter is a sophomore and doing community service hours, but I’m just keeping documentation until it’s time to fill out the form. I’m afraid when I do turn it in, the service hours won’t count and we’ll be hustling to make up for them.
FAFSA is filled out in her Senior year, usually December or later of that year. The deadline dates are on the FAFSA site. Check the Bright Futures requirements for volunteer hours. There are specific things you need to know.
1. Is completion of a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) required for
Bright Futures eligibility?
• Yes, beginning with 2011-12 Bright Futures award year, all students will be
required to complete and submit an error free FAFSA prior to receiving their first
award funding in an academic year.
2. Is community service required for Bright Futures eligibility?
• Beginning with 2012 high school graduates, students who initially receive one of
the three Bright Futures awards must have completed the required community
service requirements for the specific award by high school graduation.
o Florida Academic Scholars – 100 hours
o Florida Medallion Scholars – 75 hours
o Gold Seal Vocational Scholars – 30 hours
• See the 2011-12 award amounts on the Bright Futures website at
http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/bf/awardamt.htm.
I uploaded the full Bright Futures 2011 Update: Hopefully, it will open.
File: BrightFutures2011Updates.pdf
Enjoy the journey.
Marlene Baron, District 5 Director
I have heard nothing on the graduation for the 2011-2012 school year. We live in Royal Palm Beach, FL and would like to know where to find the information needed and cost of graduation.
Ranita,
Keep checking back, info is coming. Vicki Leist is spearheading the plans for graduation and it will be better than ever.
Email the office at: office@fpea.com with your questions.
My oldest graduated at the Gaylord in 2002. They were the first class to walk at the Gaylord. It was exciting, so be patient. It’s in the works.
Marlene Baron
Former District 5 Director and JOSH Support Group Leader
I gave my school counselor my community service hours. Does she turn them into bright futures or how does that work?
I’ve noticed several comments asking WHERE community service hours should be “turned in” to, but nobody seems to have directly answered that question.
FDOE Bright Futures website info for home education indicates that community service hours “must be submitted through the student’s district where he or she is registered as a home-educated student.” Does anyone know HOW that is done? Do we just send our documentation into the School District Main Office? Can anyone who has done this give the rest of us some answer to this? Thanks in advance for your help!
Dan,
I am in Alachua county and just graduated my first child. We mailed our volunteer hours to the homeschool dept. of the school board. They approved and input the volunteer hours for our Bright Future’s application. I contacted them first to be sure they were the ones responsible for this. Then we kept checking the online BF’s applic to be sure the hours showed up and they did. I hope this helps.
I just read on the Bright Futures website that they do not accept Parental transcripts. They only accept transcripts from:
Florida public high school,
Florida Virtual School,
Dual-enrollment coursework from a Florida state (community) college, or
FDOE-registered private high school.
Does anyone know how we are to submit transcripts as homeschoolers. My son has taken some classes on FLVS and some dual-enrolled but not enough to graduate on those alone!!