{"id":6489,"date":"2019-10-09T15:05:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T19:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/financial-aid\/?page_id=6489"},"modified":"2025-04-17T15:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T19:49:23","slug":"florida-bright-futures","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/financial-aid\/types\/scholarships\/florida-bright-futures\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Bright Futures Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t\t
The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship is a merit award based on high school academic achievement. Students may receive either the Florida Academic Scholars Award<\/a> or Florida Medallion Scholars Award<\/a> at the É«»¨ÌÃ.<\/p>\n This is the most competitive Bright Futures scholarship and the most generous one. Florida Academic Scholar (FAS) recipients may receive funding for up to five years from high school graduation for a maximum of 120 semester hours toward the completion of a first baccalaureate degree. The Florida Academic Scholar with the highest academic ranking in each county will also receive the Academic Top Scholars Award.<\/p>\n\t\t\t The Florida Academic Scholars will receive an award amount equal to 100% of tuition and applicable fees. Applicable fees include: activity and service fee, health fee, athletic fee, financial aid fee, capital improvement fee, campus access\/transportation fee, technology fee and tuition differential fee.<\/p>\n The Florida Academic Scholars Award is $212.28 per credit hour.<\/p>\n The Academic Top Scholars Award is $44 per credit hour.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t \t\t #___ of credit hours enrolled X $212.28 =\u00a0 $ ___ FAS award amount<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Yes. A FAS scholarship recipient who qualifies for one semester of graduate study funding may have the one semester be the summer term.<\/p>\n The award amount will be calculated based on the undergraduate tuition rate of $212.28.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Yes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Applicable fees include activity and service fees, health fees, athletic fees, financial aid fees, capital improvement fees, transportation fees (SUS only), technology fees and tuition differential fees.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Academic Scholars will receive an award equal to 100% of tuition and applicable fees. The tuition and applicable fees for 1 credit hour is $212.28.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\tView All FAQs<\/a>\n\t\t\t This scholarship is less competitive than the FAS, but it still has relatively high minimum test score and GPA requirements. Florida Medallion Scholar (FMS) recipients may receive funding for up to five years from high school graduation for a maximum of 120 semester hours toward the completion of a first baccalaureate degree.<\/p>\n\t\t\t Florida Medallion Scholars will receive an award amount equal to 75% of tuition and applicable fall, spring and summer fees. Applicable fees include activity and service fee, health fee, athletic fee, financial aid fee, capital improvement fee, campus access\/transportation fee, technology fee and tuition differential fee.<\/p>\n The Florida Medallion Scholars Award is $159.21 per credit hour.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t \t\t A student must be enrolled in at least 6 credit hours in order to receive Bright Futures<\/strong> funding for each term.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Medallion Scholars will receive an award amount equal to 75% of tuition and applicable fees. The tuition and applicable fees for 1 credit hour is $159.21.<\/p>\n ($212.28 X 75% = $159.21 the current rate for Medallion Scholars)<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Applicable fees include activity and service fees, health fees, athletic fees, financial aid fees, capital improvement fees, transportation access fees, technology fees and tuition differential fees.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Yes. Students will be disbursed an award if enrolled with a minimum of 6 credit hours.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t #____of credit hours enrolled x $159.21= $____FMS award amount.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\tView All FAQs<\/a>\n\t\t\t UCF will include approved transient enrollment hours in Bright Futures awards according to the per credit hour award amount for the type of institution attended. Students must complete the transient enrollment process to include transient hours.<\/p>\n For more information, visit our Transient Enrollment<\/a> page.<\/p>\n Eligibility and application criteria are available from your high school guidance office, or the Florida Bright Futures Program website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Students are not required to submit a FAFSA<\/a> in order to receive both initial and renewal Bright Futures eligibility. Students are encouraged to submit the FAFSA to learn of potential eligibility for additional state and federal aid.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> Gold Seal (Cape\/or Vocational) Scholarships are not offered at UCF as we are a post-secondary institution specialized in degree programs.<\/p>\n Each award has different academic criteria for eligibility and provides a different award amount and\/or number of semester hours. Below are general requirements that apply to both Bright Futures awards. In order to qualify for one of these awards, you must:<\/p>\n If you meet all of the above requirements, you’re on the right track to getting your own Florida Bright Futures awards.<\/p>\n Students with less than 6 credit hours required for graduation, may receive FAS and FMS by submitting a memo on letterhead from an student success coach indicating:<\/p>\n Use the Document and File Uploader<\/a> tool and select the routing option: Graduation Memo.<\/strong><\/p>\n Graduate level hours may be approved by the student\u2019s student success coach if they are required for the completion of the degree. Courses will be paid as an undergraduate rate. \u00a0Students taking graduate-level courses must submit a memo from the student success coach indicating:<\/p>\n Use the Document and File Uploader tool and select the routing option: Bright Futures \/ Benacquisto Scholarships.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n Students must apply for the scholarship<\/a> by submitting the Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA) no later than August 31 after high school graduation.<\/p>\n\t\t\t NOTE:<\/strong> In order to receive the Bright Futures Scholarship award, your post-secondary institution selection on the Initial Student Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA) must be stated as \u201cÉ«»¨ÌÃ.\u201d If you have selected another institution on the FFAA and you are planning to attend UCF, you must update your institution name selection to reflect \u201cUCF\u201d. To update your post-secondary institution name, you may visit the Florida Department of Education, Office of Student Financial Assistant (OSFA) website or call 1-888-827-2004<\/a>. Also, if you were assigned a Pseudo number (PSI) which begins with either P00 or P04 by the Florida Department of Education, Office of Student Financial Assistant (OSFA), please send an email to our office at finaid@ucf.edu<\/a> with the subject line : \u201cPseudo Number Bright Futures\u201d and make sure to include the Pseudo number that was assigned to you, along with your UCFID. Once we update our records, we will be able to pull your data from the Master Eligibility List (MEL) and package the award.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<\/section>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n The Bright Futures Scholarship allows Bright Futures Florida Academic Scholars (FAS) and Bright Futures Florida Medallion Scholars (FMS) students to receive award funding during summer terms.<\/p>\n FAS students will receive an award that covers 100% of tuition and applicable fees for the summer term.<\/p>\n FMS students will receive an award that covers 75% of tuition and fees.<\/p>\n\t\t\t In order to receive summer funding, FAS and FMS students:<\/p>\n \t\t Yes. The 2026-27 academic year includes the summer 2026 term. Any FAS or FMS student eligible for 2026-27 may receive summer funding, provided the student meets all enrollment criteria.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Florida Bright Futures Scholars enrolled less than half time may only be funded if they are enrolled in the remaining courses to finish their degree (a memo from an student success coach must be submitted) or if they are being disbursed the last remaining hours of Bright Futures eligibility.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Yes. Florida Bright Futures Scholars who meet graduate funding requirements, may use the summer as the one semester of graduate study funding. If the student does not wish to be funded for the summer term, please send an email to finaid@ucf.edu<\/a> to request it in writing.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Yes. Grade and hours information will be reported for all students funded during the summer. If a student took transient hours, the grades and hours earned at the other institution must be reported to UCF by August 12 in order to be reported systematically. After this date, students would have to complete the Bright Futures Renewal Re-Evaluation Form in order for the grades and hours to be reported to OSFA.<\/p>\n If a student has an opportunity to restore the Bright Futures award, the grades from the summer term may be used to meet restoration requirements. UCF will report these hours systematically and the student will not have to apply for restoration.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Sessions A, B, C, and D offered during the summer term.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Yes, high school graduates eligible for either Florida Academic Scholars or Florida Medallion Scholars may receive funding when enrolled in classes as a degree-seeking student during the summer.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t No. Renewal will be based on grades and hours earned for the fall and spring terms. However, grades and hours reported to the Florida Department of Education include students\u2019 cumulative GPAs.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Yes. Repayment obligations remain the same regardless of the term funded. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t No. For Florida Academic Scholars, only 100% of tuition and applicable fees will disburse in summer terms.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t Florida Academic Scholars and Florida Medallion Scholars, who enroll in at least six credit hours in the summer term, may be eligible to receive Bright Futures Scholarship funding.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\tView All FAQs<\/a>\n\t\t\t Renewal eligibility<\/a> is an automatic process that occurs at the end of the spring term for those students who received funding during the previous year. Renewal students must earn the GPA and the required hours on all college coursework attempted, including transient enrollment hours. The student may request the exclusion of dual enrollment courses completed while attending high school from the GPA, if needed, to meet requirements.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t Eligible students who did not receive a Bright Futures disbursement during the previous academic year can apply to have the award reinstated<\/a>.<\/p>\n If a student does not meet the scholarship’s GPA requirements, they may be eligible to apply for a one-time restoration<\/a> \u2014 but only if the failure to renew occurred at the end of the student\u2019s first year of funding.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\tTypes of Bright Future Scholarship Programs<\/h2>\n
Florida Academic Scholars (FAS)<\/h3>\n
FAS Awards<\/h4>\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\tFAS Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\nFlorida Medallion Scholars (FMS)<\/h3>\n
FMS Awards<\/h4>\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\tFMS Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\tTransient Student Hours<\/h3>\n
Rates for transient enrollment at Florida Public Colleges<\/h4>\n
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Bright Futures Eligibility and Requirements<\/h2>\n
General Bright Futures Requirements<\/h3>\n
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Exceptions to Bright Futures Requirements<\/h4>\n
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How to Apply for Bright Futures<\/h2>\n
Bright Futures Timeline<\/h2>\n
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Summer Funding for Bright Futures Scholars<\/h2>\n
Funding Requirements<\/h3>\n
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\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\tSummer Funding Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<\/section>\nRenewal & Reinstatement \/ Restoration<\/h2>\n
Renewal Eligibility<\/h3>\n\t\t\t
\nRenewal Eligibility<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<\/section>\nReinstatement \/ Restoration<\/h3>\n\t\t\t