Navigating Bright Futures at the University of Miami: A Comprehensive Guide

For Florida residents aspiring to attend the University of Miami (UM), understanding the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program is crucial. This merit-based scholarship, funded by the Florida Lottery, rewards high-achieving Florida high school graduates and can significantly offset the cost of education. This article provides a detailed overview of how Bright Futures works at UM, covering eligibility, award amounts, renewal requirements, and other essential information.

Benefits for Florida Residents

Florida residency offers numerous advantages, including access to financial aid and scholarship opportunities provided by the state. The Bright Futures Scholarship Program stands out as a significant benefit for eligible students.

Bright Futures at UM: An Overview

Yes, you can receive both the Florida Academic Scholars (FAS) or Florida Medallion (FM) awards at UM!

Award Amounts and Payment

The state of Florida will only pay to UM amounts similar to what they would have paid had you gone to a Florida state school. The value of the awards is determined by the state, and the rate is typically similar to the prior spring rate. Students at Florida private colleges and universities receive their payments on a per-credit basis. The University of Miami will include an estimated award for the year based on 15 credits of enrollment each semester. At the end of the drop period of each term, OFASE will review and update the awards for all students based on the actual number of credits a student is enrolled. Enrollment will also be reviewed at the completion of each term and adjustments will be made at that time as required. Please note that any adjustment to your Bright Futures award may affect your bill with the University of Miami.

Credit Hour Requirements

As long as you are taking six credits (typically equal to two classes) or more in a summer term at UM, your Bright Futures award will apply. To earn a Bright Futures scholarship, students have to be enrolled in at least 6 credit hours per semester. This is equivalent to being enrolled half-time. Full-time enrollment would be 12 credit hours. So, as long as you enrolled for half the credits of what your institution considers full-time, you can qualify for the scholarship. Initial eligibility must be at least 6 credits.

Understanding the Benacquisto Scholarship

UM also participates in the Benacquisto Scholarship program. You will receive a Benacquisto award that is equal to the highest cost of attendance at a Florida state school (as determined by the Florida Department of Education) minus your National Merit Scholarship and Florida Bright Futures award. For the 2018-2019 academic year, the highest cost of attendance at a Florida state school was $24,900. In other words, the combination of the National Merit award, Bright Futures, and Benacquisto scholarships equaled this amount. For Benacquisto, students must earn every credit attempted. If they fail to earn any enrolled credits, they permanently lose their future Benacquisto awards.

Maintaining Eligibility: GPA Requirements

For Bright Futures, yes. Florida Academic Scholars need to maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA while Florida Medallion Scholars need to maintain a 2.75 cumulative GPA. Bright Futures-eligible recipients who fail to achieve a minimum 2.75 institutional GPA and become ineligible during their first year of funding may apply for restoration in an academic year after which the 2.75 institutional GPA requirement is met. Students must complete all credits attempted with a minimum of 12 credits/semester or 24 credits/academic year.

The Effective Access to Student Education (EASE) Award

The most common Florida award at UM is the Effective Access to Student Education (EASE) award. It is awarded to all full-time, undergraduate, Florida residents who are citizens or eligible noncitizens. It does not require the completion of the FAFSA nor CSS Profile application, is not awarded based on need or merit and is renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study. For dependent students, your biological or adoptive parent is actually the one who needs to prove Florida residency and they have to have permanently lived in the state for at least 12 months prior to you starting at UM.

Florida Prepaid Plans and UM

Yes, you can! You should contact the Florida Prepaid office to determine the amount that they will pay to UM each year. Because we are not a state school, you will need to complete a transfer form. You would then contact our Office of Student Account Services to set up the billing for this plan by completing an authorization form.

Estimating Need-Based Aid

Everyone can visit our Net Price Calculator to get a rough estimate of whether or not they may qualify for need-based aid. This can help you decide whether or not to apply for need-based aid. If all your necessary documentation is completed on time, you will receive an aid award letter with your admission notification.

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Outside Scholarships

Outside/private scholarships are those that do not come from the state, the federal government, or UM. They do not normally affect your merit awards but can have an effect on your need-based grants.

Non-Custodial Parent Waiver

Students who are unable to contact their non-custodial parent (NCP) can apply for a non-custodial parent waiver. You will need to supply a letter, on letterhead, from a third party, such as a counselor, priest, therapist or psychologist, that would corroborate the fact that you have no ability to contact the non-custodial parent.

Understanding the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program

The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program is a scholarship program, funded by the Florida Lottery, to reward Florida high school graduates for high academic achievement. Florida Academic scholars are eligible to receive an award amount equal to 100% of tuition and mandatory or applicable fees. Applicable fees could include activity and service, health, athletic, financial aid, capital improvement, campus access/transportation, technology and tuition differential fees.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible to receive one of the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Awards a student must:

Be a Florida resident.
Earn a standard high school diploma.
Be accepted and enrolled in an eligible Florida public/private post-secondary school.
Enroll for at least six semester credit hours.
Complete community service or paid work hours.
Not have been found guilty of a felony.
Apply for the scholarship in the last semester before graduation and complete an error-free Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Florida residents must have their high school guidance counselor submit their information and authorization form to the Florida Bright Futures Program at the Florida Department of Education in Tallahassee. As an incoming first-year, eligibility is determined based on performance throughout high school.

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Community Service or Paid Work Hours

To be eligible to receive one of the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Awards a student must complete community service or paid work hours. Students must complete the required number of community service, paid work hours, or the combination of 100 total hours. Community Service is defined as identifying a social issue in the community. This requires students to look beyond themselves and reach out to an issue faced by our society (i.e. poverty, abuse, elderly citizen rights). These hours will meet the requirement for the Florida Academic Scholars, Florida Medallion Scholars or Gold Seal Vocational scholarships. Volunteer Service is defined as assisting where needed and does not necessarily address a social issue. Although these hours are not recorded on the transcript, students can keep a log of these activities for use when applying for college, job applications, awards and scholarships but may not be used for Bright Futures. Paid Work Experience is defined as a job where students earn a weekly or biweekly paycheck and are able to document their work experience through timecards, W-2 statements, or pay stubs. Collect any and all necessary documentation and signatures from the organization where the hours take place.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

In order to remain eligible for all types of financial aid, you must make satisfactory progress toward completing your degree requirements. Renewal requirements apply to all undergraduate students receiving UM merit/academic scholarships. Students must maintain a minimum cumulative institutional GPA of 3.0. If you go on Inactive Status or enroll in a non-UM program (fall or spring), and you are meeting SAP prior to your semester away, your scholarship will be on hold until you return. UM and Federal Need-Based Aid include Coral Grants, donor awards, Pell, SEOG, Work Study, International Student Grants, Direct Student Loans, and PLUS Loans. Students must maintain a minimum cumulative institutional GPA of 2.0. Must successfully earn 67 percent of the total credit hours attempted during your overall academic career. Your degree must be completed within 150 percent of normal completion as determined by the school or college catalog. A student will fail when the institution is aware that a student cannot complete their program within the 150 percent time frame. UM grant eligibility is also limited to the standard length of one’s primary major undergraduate degree requirements. This is normally four academic years/eight terms of continuous fall/spring undergraduate enrollment. Those who exceed their term limits will lose eligibility for awards such as a UM Coral Grant or UM Tamara Lapman Grant. Federal and institutional need-based aid recipients will be placed on a “warning status” for one semester following notice of failure to meet SAP requirements. If you go on Inactive Status or enroll in a non-UM program (fall or spring), your loans MAY go into repayment. Students who do not meet the conditions listed have the opportunity to submit an appeal to the Financial Aid Review Committee. If a student re-establishes their aid eligibility through the appeals process, the term in which their initial appeal is approved will be considered a “Probationary” term.

CR/NC Option and Financial Aid

Since all CR/NC courses for which you receive a CR grade will count as earned credits, they will also count toward the 24 academic year credits that are needed for UM Merit award renewal eligibility. For need based aid, you must meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress standards that are in compliance with federal regulations (see above).

Summer Credits and Financial Aid

UM Merit/Academic scholarships and Florida Aid allows you to take credits to meet the credit completion and GPA-earned requirements but they must be completed the summer after the academic year. The state of Florida offers a generous merit-based scholarship, Bright Futures. The scholarship is designed to keep talented Florida high school students in the state when they go to college.

Levels of Bright Futures Scholarship:

The Bright Futures Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship for students who are Florida residents. There are two levels for the scholarship: Florida Academic Scholars and Florida Medallion Scholars. Florida Bright Futures offers generous scholarships for Florida residents to attend either public or private colleges and universities located in Florida. While the levels of funding that students receive are supposed to be similar between Florida public and private universities, the funds pay out in a different manner.

Qualification for a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship

Here are the basic requirements for Florida Academic Scholars:

A Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 3.5;
Meeting a testing threshold of at least 29 on the ACT, 1330 on the SAT, or 95 on the Classical Learning Test (CLT); and
100 hours of community service, 100 hours of work experience, or a combination of volunteer and work hours to reach the 100-hour minimum.

The ACT has made its Science section optional, largely to reduce the length of its test. For admission purposes to Florida State University System Schools, the ACT Science section is optional. For the purpose of Florida Bright Futures eligibility, the Science section is now also optional. Students might want to take the Science section since their composite ACT score will be calculated twice, both with and without the Science section. Students who take the Science section will have an additional chance to qualify for Bright Futures. Composite scores ending in .05 or higher will be rounded up to the next whole number. If a student scores 28.5 or higher, the score is rounded up to 29. The 3.5 GPA is a weighted GPA. However, the classes that count in that GPA and the added weights are both unusual compared to how high schools and colleges calculate GPAs. In lieu of a test score, students may qualify by earning an: AP Capstone, International Baccalaureate (IB), or Cambridge AICE diploma. This is an important exemption from the test score requirement. Staff with Cambridge AICE indicate that most students who qualify for Bright Futures using the AICE diploma do not have a test score high enough to qualify for Bright Futures. Florida Academic Scholars receive 100 percent of the tuition cost of a Florida public university. Florida Medallion Scholars also earn merit scholarships to attend private colleges and universities in Florida. In the past, the legislature came close to restricting use of Bright Futures scholarships to students who had vocational-related majors (this would have excluded students majoring in subjects such as English) in college. The Bright Futures program is an valuable opportunity for Florida residents to secure funding for college.

Bright Futures Program Requirements

The requirements outlined in the Bright Futures handbook may look overwhelming, but we’ve broken them down for each of the programs below. Each Bright Futures program has a different set of requirements, but there are a few that they all share. Here are the requirements you must meet in order to qualify for any Bright Futures program. Be a Florida resident and a US Citizen or eligible noncitizen. Earn a diploma from a Florida high school or high school equivalent. If you meet all the requirements listed above, congratulations! You may be in the running for a Bright Futures scholarship. Keep reading for an overview of each Bright Futures program. We’ll show you what the award amounts are and which educational tracks they are meant for. The Florida Academic Scholars program provides full funding for your education at a public institution in Florida. This includes all applicable tuition and fees. Students who choose a private institution will receive a comparable award but it may not cover the entire cost. Winners also receive $300 per semester to put towards additional educational costs. The Florida Medallion Scholars program pays for 75% of all applicable tuition and fees at a public institution in Florida. FMS is less competitive than the Florida Academic Scholars program. The Florida Gold Seal CAPE Scholars program provides a fixed payment per credit hour which varies by program of study. The program is designed for students who already received an associate degree and are seeking a bachelor’s. This program is less competitive than Florida Medallion Scholars and Florida Medallion Scholars. The Florida Gold Seal CAPE Scholars program provides a fixed payment per credit hour which varies with program of study. This program is designed for students who are pursuing a certificate or vocational degree. Now, let’s dig into the requirements for each program. Florida Academic Scholars must hold a minimum 3.5 weighted GPA. Additionally, they must obtain a minimum score of 29 on the ACT, a 95 on the CLT (Classic Learning Test), or 1330 on the SAT. Students must also have completed a set of high school coursework requirements. However, these requirements align with the state university system admission requirements.

Florida Medallion Scholars

Florida Medallion Scholars must hold a minimum 3.0 weighted GPA. Additionally, they must obtain a minimum score of 24 on the ACT, an 82 on the CLT, or 1190 on the SAT. Students must be pursuing an applied technology diploma, an associate’s degree in applied science or associate in science, or a career certificate. If students have already received an associate’s degree, they can receive funding for up to 60 hours towards a Bachelor’s. Students who meet general Bright Futures requirements and are currently enrolled in a career education or certificate program are eligible. Students who don’t meet the test requirements listed above may still be eligible for the FAS or FMS. Students who have been receiving Bright Futures’s funds throughout the academic year do not need to re-apply and rather will be automatically evaluated at the end of the spring term. You can use Bright Futures at any approved program in the state of Florida, public or private. This also includes community colleges.

Maximizing Your Chances for a Bright Futures Scholarship

If you are pursuing a Bright Futures scholarship, there are many ways that you can maximize your chances. You can start by working to make sure your test scores and GPA are as high as possible. You can maximize your test scores by deciding whether to focus on the SAT or the ACT. You’ll also want to ensure that you fill out the Florida Financial Aid Application before the deadline. Remember, that deadline is August 31 of your graduation year. Also, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Look around for other scholarships, and apply far and wide! To earn the Bright Futures Florida Academic Scholars award, you’ll need a minimum of 1330 on the SAT, a minimum of 29 on the ACT, or a minimum of 95 on the CLT. The Florida Medallion Scholars program, on the other hand, requires a minimum of 1190 on the SAT, a minimum of 82 on the CLT, or a minimum of 24 on the ACT. The Florida Gold Seal CAPE Scholars program has no SAT requirement, and the Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars program has varying minimum SAT scores for the different awards. Each Bright Futures scholarship has a different minimum ACT score, and each can be substituted for a qualifying SAT score if applicable. The Florida Academic Scholars award requires a minimum of 29 on the ACT, while the Florida Medallion Scholars program requires a minimum 24. Gold Seal CAPE Scholars have no minimum ACT score, and minimum scores vary by the different levels of Gold Seal Vocational Scholars. Students who engage in a military, religious, or service obligation can defer the Bright Futures Scholarship as long as the obligation lasts longer than 18 months. If you are a Florida resident who went to school out-of-state, you can still earn a Bright Futures scholarship if you meet certain requirements.

Bright Futures and Private Colleges

Yes! Students attending a private college or university in Florida are eligible to use Bright Futures to help pay for their school. As long as it is on their list of approved programs, it doesn’t matter whether the school you choose is public or private. However, the award may not cover your entire cost of tuition at a private school. Bright Futures offers “comparable awards” to private school attendees, meaning it will be a similar cash value to full tuition at a public school. Since private schools tend to have higher tuition, there is typically more of a gap.

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