Bright Futures is a scholarship program in the state of Florida. It is funded by the Florida Lottery and was first started in 1997.

History

The Bright Futures Scholarship Program was meant to emulate neighboring state Georgia's HOPE Scholarship. Originally the Program disbursed just above 42,000 scholarships for about $70 million. At the program's peak in 2008, it provided scholarships to 39% of Florida high school graduates,

The program was solely based on academic merit and not on financial need, and had an "A level" and a "B level", plus a vocational scholarship program that could be used at trade schools. The A level covered 100% of tuition and fees while the B level covered 75%. At its height in 2008, the program was criticized for subsidizing the education of students from wealthy families using lottery proceeds collected largely from lower-income individuals. UF Chief Financial Officer Matt Fajack criticized the program for keeping state university tuition artificially low, since any tuition raise would mean that the state would have to spend more money to cover scholarships under the program. By the 2015–16 school year, the program covered only 20% of Florida high school graduates and paid an average of $2,000 per year.

In 2014, the United States Department of Education launched an investigation of the Bright Futures program due to allegations of racial bias against black and Latino students, focusing particularly on its effects on students from Miami–Dade County and at Florida International University. The department ultimately found evidence of disparate impacts on minorities but no evidence of discriminatory intent.

2018 saw a massive overhaul of the scholarship, with the "A level" being renamed to "Florida Academic Scholar" (FAS), the "B level" renamed to "Florida Medallion Scholar" (FMS), the vocational program being renamed to "Gold Seal Vocational", and a new fourth level (also intended for vocational schools) called "Gold Seal CAPE". Another new award was also added called the Academic Top Scholar (ATS) award, which would be given to the student with the highest academic rank in each Florida county. The FAS and FMS levels returned to their previous values, with the FAS increasing to cover 100% of tuition and fees plus a new $300 per semester book stipend and the FMS increasing to cover 75% of tuition and fees.

In 2021, the book stipend was removed as part of the budgetary process. This change came among many controversies surrounding Florida Senate Bill 86, a piece of legislation that would have made massive structural changes to Bright Future's implementation and administration. While SB 86 did not pass the Florida House of Representatives, other similar legislation raised the SAT score requirements from 1290 to 1330 for FAS and 1170 to 1210 for FMS (later reduced to 1190), but the ACT score requirement remained the same for both levels. The scholarship began accepting scores from the Classic Learning Test (CLT) as an alternative to the SAT and ACT in 2025, and requires a score of 95 for FAS and 82 for FMS.

Scholarships

Basic requirements

As of August 2022, the program funds four scholarship levels, available to students who:

  • Are U.S. citizens or legal residents;

All above requirements must be met by August 31 of a student's high school graduation year.

Scholarship-specific requirements

This section does not list every possible scenario that can be used to qualify for a Bright Futures scholarship, but it does list the most common ways. For the full list of ways to qualify as of August 2025, see here.

  • Florida Academic Scholars (FAS):
  • Minimum weighted GPA of 3.50 in the 16 "college preparatory" required courses, OR be a National Merit Finalist or Scholar, OR National Hispanic Scholar, OR receive an Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) diploma prior to high school graduation, OR receive an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma prior to high school graduation;
  • Completion of the 16 "college preparatory" required courses;
  • IF the student earned a GED instead of a high school diploma OR is applying as an out-of-state student, they must also submit high school transcripts to the Florida Office of Student Financial Aid.
  • Florida Medallion Scholars (FMS):
  • Minimum weighted GPA of 3.00 in the 16 "college preparatory" required courses, OR be a National Merit Finalist or Scholar, OR National Hispanic Scholar, OR receive an Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) diploma prior to high school graduation, OR receive an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma prior to high school graduation;
  • Minimum unweighted GPA of 3.50 in career education courses (must take at least 3 career education courses);
  • Completion (with signed documentation) of 30 volunteer service hours (increasing to 75 hours for students entering high school in 2024) OR 100 paid work hours OR a combination of 100 total hours. Volunteer hours or paid work must fall under the "approved activities" set by the student's district school board (or school administration if the student attends a nonpublic school).

Requirements for all levels must be met no later than January 31 of a mid-year graduating senior's graduation year (i.e. students who graduate after one semester of their senior year) or June 30 of a regular graduating senior's graduation year. Each district school board (or school administration for nonpublic schools) has the right to set an earlier deadline for volunteer/paid work hour completion requirements if they choose to do so.

  • All levels:
  • Be enrolled for at least six non-remedial semester credit hours (or equivalent) per term, unless the student needs fewer than six semester hours to complete their degree program; Must refund the Scholarship Program for any withdrawn classes, if applicable.
  • FMS, GSV, and GSC:
  • 2.75 GPA, must earn credits in all classes taken, unless withdrawn from.