Florida Bright Futures Scholarship
The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program offers three levels of scholarship awards – the Florida Academic Scholars award (FAS), the Florida Medallion Scholars award (FMS), and the Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars award (GSV). All information regarding the Bright Futures program can be found using the Bright Futures Student Handbook
Who gets it? The Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) strongly encourages ALL seniors to complete the Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA) even if eligibility requirements have not yet been satisfied or if a student chooses to attend an out-of-state postsecondary institution.
How to apply? Complete the Florida Financial Aid Application using the FFAA Helpful Hints Guide
When to apply? The Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA) becomes available October 1 of the students senior year. Students should apply as soon as possible senior year.
Student Responsibilities: It is the student’s responsibility to know and meet the requirements of the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program before high school graduation and throughout your college career. To learn more about these requirements go to www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org.
After submitting the FFAA, the student is responsible for tracking their application and award status online, keeping OSFA informed of any demographic or institutional changes, and ensuring that funding for an academic year is accurate by contacting their institution’s financial aid office.
Bright Futures Evaluations
The only way for students to view their progress towards earning the Bright Futures scholarship is through an official evaluation provided by the Office of Student Financial Assistant (OSFA).
St Johns County School District will automatically submit all student transcripts directly to the Office of Student Financial Assistant (OSFA) for evaluation after the conclusion of each semester which will include grades, courses, and community service and/or paid work hours turned in.
Students are responsible for requesting their official single sitting test scores be sent to one of Florida’s public colleges or state universities when registering for the ACT , CLT , or SAT for evaluation purposes.
All 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students can view their Bright Futures evaluations using their Xello account.
How to Access Your Bright Futures Evaluations via Xello
General Bright Futures Eligibility:
- Be a Florida resident and U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen, as determined by the student’s postsecondary institution
- Complete the FFAA during senior year but no later than August 31 after high school graduation
- Earn a standard Florida high school diploma, or its equivalent, from a Florida public high school
- Not have been found guilty of, or pled nolo contendere to, a felony charge, unless the student has been granted clemency by the Governor and Cabinet sitting as the Executive Office of Clemency plead no contest to, a felony charge
- Be accepted by, and enroll in a degree or certificate program at an eligible Florida public or independent postsecondary institution
- Be enrolled for at least six non-remedial semester credit hours per term
- If not funded in the academic year immediately following high school graduation, apply to a post-secondary institution within five years of high school graduation to have your award reinstated (must still apply for Bright Futures during senior year of HS)
Florida Academic Scholarship eligibility*:
- 3.5 Weighted Bright Futures GPA
- 16 high school course credits – 4 English, 4 Math, 3 Natural Science, 3 Social Studies and 2 World Languages
- 100 hours of community service, 100 paid work hours or 100 hours of combined volunteer/paid hours
- Class of 2027 – 1330 minimum SAT score (reading/writing & math only no Essay), 29 minimum composite ACT Score (without Writing) or 95 minimum CLT score (Verbal Reasoning, Grammar/Writing and Quantitative Reasoning)
- Class of 2028 – 1350 minimum SAT score (reading/writing & math only no Essay), 29 minimum composite ACT Score (without Writing) or 96 minimum CLT score (Verbal Reasoning, Grammar/Writing and Quantitative Reasoning)
FAS currently pays 100% tuition at a Florida public university (comparative amount to be awarded to a Florida Private University).
Florida Medallion Scholarship eligibility*:
- 3.0 Weighted Bright Futures GPA
- 16 high school course credits – 4 English, 4 Math, 3 Natural Science, 3 Social Studies and 2 World Languages
- 75 hours of community service, 100 paid work hours or 100 hours of combined volunteer/paid hours
- Class of 2027 – 1190 minimum SAT score (reading/writing & math only – No Essay), 24 minimum composite ACT Score (without Writing) or 82 minimum CLT score (Verbal Reasoning, Grammar/Writing and Quantitative Reasoning)
- Class of 2028 – 1200 minimum SAT score (reading/writing & math only – No Essay), 25 minimum composite ACT Score (without Writing) or 83 minimum CLT score (Verbal Reasoning, Grammar/Writing and Quantitative Reasoning)
FMS currently pays 75% tuition at a Florida public university (comparative amount to be awarded to a Florida Private University).
Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars eligibility*:
- 3.0 or higher weighted Bright Futures GPA in non-elective high school courses
- 3 full credits in a single Career and Technical Education Program and earn a 3.5 or higher unweighted GPA in these courses
- 75 hours of community service, 100 paid work hours or 100 hours of combined volunteer/paid hours
- Achieve qualifying test score requirements: ACT – English: 17, Reading: 19 and Math: 19 or SAT (March 1, 2024 and thereafter) Critical Reading or Evidence Based Reading and Writing: 490 and Math: 480 or PERT – Reading: 106, Writing: 103 and Math: 114
Florida Gold Seal CAPE Scholarship eligibility:
- Earn a minimum of five postsecondary credit hours through CAPE Industry Certifications which articulate for college credit
- 75 hours of community service, 100 paid work hours or 100 hours of combined volunteer/paid hours
Bright Futures Final Evaluation Deadlines
- By Graduation Date – All required coursework and GPA
- By Graduation Date- Complete and turn in work/service hours to building 1
- By Graduation Date – If the eligible Florida postsecondary institution the student plans to attend is different from the one listed on the student’s Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA), the student will need to update his or her institution online. This may be accomplished by logging into the online account and accessing the Update Profile screen or by calling Customer Service at 888-827-2004.
- August 31 – Take and submit ACT/SAT/CLT scores to a public Florida University**
- August 31 – Apply for Florida Financial Aid
St Johns County School District will automatically submit all student transcripts directly to the Office of Student Financial Assistant (OSFA) for evaluation after the conclusion of each semester.
Bright Futures High School GPA
The evaluation for a Bright Futures award includes an unrounded, weighted high school GPA (calculated to two decimal places) in the 16 college preparatory credits. The following courses are weighted 0.25 per semester course or 0.50 per year course in the calculation of the GPA: Advanced Placement (AP), Pre-International Baccalaureate (Pre-IB), International Baccalaureate (IB), Honors, Pre-Advanced International Certificate of Education (Pre-AICE), Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE), or academic Dual Enrollment. For example, whereas an ‘A’ equals 4.00 quality points for an unweighted course, an ‘A’ would equal 4.50 quality points for a weighted course. If necessary, students may use two additional credits from courses in the above academic areas, or from AP, IB, or AICE fine arts courses to raise their GPA.
College Entrance Exams
Students will be evaluated based on official test scores from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) repository. To ensure OSFA obtains official test scores:
- Ensure demographics on your test registration and high school transcript match; and
- Request your official single sitting test scores be sent to one of Florida’s public colleges or state universities when registering for the ACT , CLT , or SAT
The SAT combined score is the sum of the best Reading (Critical Reading or Evidence-Based Reading and Writing) and Math section scores from any timely test sitting of the SAT
The CLT combined score is the sum of the best Verbal Reasoning, Grammar/Writing and Quantitative Reasoning from any timely test sitting of the CLT for an Overall Score.
The ACT Science section is optional for Bright Futures. The ACT composite score will be calculated using the following policies:
o Students who have never taken the Science section will have three sections (English, Math, Reading) added together and divided by three.
o Students who have ACT scores with Science reported will have two averages calculated (with and without Science), which will consist of:
• Four sections (English, Math, Reading, Science) added together and divided by four, and
• Three sections (English, Math, Reading) added together and divided by three.
Note: The higher average of these two composite scores will be used for Bright Futures evaluation purposes.
o Composite scores ending in 0.50 or higher will be rounded up to the next whole number.
o Composite scores utilize the highest score achieved within each of the individual subject areas.
The ACT, CLT, or SAT exams may be taken an unlimited number of times on or before August 31 of the high school graduation year (or through January 31 for mid-year graduates)
*These eligibility requirements are subject to change with each legislative session.