Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Information

Florida offers a variety of scholarships and grants to help you fund your education and earn a degree without debt. The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program is a state-funded initiative providing merit-based financial aid to Florida high school graduates for postsecondary education.

Any student who meets all of the eligibility requirements for Bright Futures will receive funds to attend any public or private college in Florida. Financial need is not considered in awarding Bright Futures scholarships.

The Four Different Scholarships

There are four different scholarship programs, all with different eligibility requirements and award amounts. All of these scholarships are renewable—as long as you continue to meet eligibility requirements, you can get these awards up to five years after the date of your graduation:

Florida Academic Scholars (FAS): This is the most competitive scholarship and most generous scholarship. It’s geared towards “A students.” FAS winners can receive funding for the entire duration of their course of study.

Florida Merit Scholars (FMS): This scholarship is less competitive than the FAS, but it still has relatively high minimum test score and GPA requirements. It’s geared towards “B students.” FMS winners can receive funding for the entire duration of their course of study.

Gold Seal Vocational Scholars (GSV): This scholarship helps students pursue post-high school vocational and certificate degrees. It’s one of the least competitive awards and offers the least funding. GSV winners can receive scholarship funding for up to 72 credit hours of a technical degree program or career certificate program OR up to 60 credit hours of an applied technology degree program.
Gold Seal CAPE Scholars Program (GSC): This scholarship is for students who are finishing an associates degree in science or applied science through a CAPE program and want to continue on to earn a Bachelors of Science degree or Bachelors of Applied Science degree. GSC winners receive scholarship funding for up to 60 credit hours.

Scholarship Requirements

General Requirements

Here are the general requirements that apply to all Bright Futures Scholarships:

You must be a Florida resident and US citizen or eligible non-citizen (this is determined by your college).

You must complete the Florida Financial Aid Application no later than August 31 after high school graduation.

You must earn a standard Florida high school diploma or its equivalent from a Florida public high school or a registered Florida Department of Education private school.

You can’t have been convicted of (or pleaded no contest to) a felony charge.

You must be accepted by and enroll in a degree or certificate program at an eligible Florida public or independent postsecondary institution (postsecondary = college, vocational, or professional program).

You must be enrolled for at least 6 (non-remedial) credit hours per term, including the term immediately after you graduate from high school.

Specific Requirements

Bright Futures Quick Guide to Specific Requirements– Paper copies are available in room 268 (media center).

3 Steps to Applying for a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship

Much of this process is automated—you won’t have to do much extra work outside of submitting the Florida Financial Aid Application and keeping an eye on your app to make sure everything is processed correctly

If all of your eligibility requirements check out, you can start the application as early as December 1 of your senior year.

Step 1: Submit the Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA)

The FFAA opens October 1 each year. Your Florida Bright Futures account login information will be sent to you after you submit the FFAA. Just remember that you must submit your FFAA by August 31 of the year that you graduate from high school, or you won’t be eligible for a scholarship award.

Step 2: Take the ACT, SAT or CLT and Submit Your Scores

The good news is that you’ll have to take eligibility tests for college applications anyway. Send your scores to any Florida public college or university to ensure that the Florida Department of Education—the institution that reviews Bright Futures applications—receives them.

Step 3: Keep the Information in Your Account Updated

There are many tasks you can (and should) manage once you get your Bright Futures account information:

Monitor your reported service hours.

Update your postsecondary institution: once you’ve been accepted to/enrolled at a FL college or vocational school, you would make a note of this in your account.