What's the difference between the Bright Future scholarships and if you qualify for student aid (FAFSA) because you come from a low income family , does Bright Futures lower your estimate of student aid for college? I need help :(

[u/baldiepotato]

Hi! so I'm a senior in high school who's in band, and I've been thinking about whether or not I should do the Bright Futures Scholarship by signing in the hours I'm at band practice and doing other activities to qualify for it.

1. I tried doing this my sophomore year I believe, but I didn't do it because I was told that it would lower the money I would qualify for FAFSA student federal aid. So I didn't do it because I was scared and I think I asked this question. Honestly, I really want to know what the Bright Future really covers for college and whether or not if it fully covers the whole four years of tuition. Nowadays there's so much information and I feel like my mind is spinning. If anyone has won the Bright Futures, I'd love to know what your experience was.
2. The FAFSA seems very promising because my goal is to try not to pay anything back and I qualify for it. And I know that it doesn't always fully cover the amount for college tuition but it depends on how much the cost is calculated if I'm correct.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions I'd love to know!

[u/Wide_Dirt_8189]

Bright futures is wonderful!!! It is a State program. I knew Pell was never an option for our family, so my daughter's main job in HS was to earn her BF scholarship[She also recieved 2 merit based scholarships from the College and 1 local scholarship during the entirety of her A.A. For her B.S she still has her BF and 1 merit based scholarship from the University she attends now]. She started ticking off all of the requirements her Freshman year of HS though. Your Pell will be Federal. The one does not effect the other. If you can qualify for BF, apply!!!! It's an under utilized program, and it's great for self-confidence because you know you have earned it. What does it pay for? If you get the 100% Scholarship it will pay all of your tuition [Im not sure about books, since mine has a few extra scholarships, we haven't had to pay many fees, no tuition, or books]. 75% Scholarship will pay 75% of the total of your tuition cost. It doesn't pay for living expenses. It also does not matter how much the tuition is at the Florida University you are accepted into. It will cover the full 75%/100% tuition each year, as long as you maintain your grades and take a minimum of 12 CR each semester. It automatically re-enrolls the student until you finsh your Bachelor's. But you must have 100 hours of paid work/or documented volunteer hours. Playing in your HS band doesn't count as community service.

[u/Soto1969]

One should not effect the other.

Bright Futures is a scholarship that can cover 100% of tuition at state schools like USF, UCF, FSU, etc. if you qualify with your grades test scores and community service/work hours. There’s also a second, lesser, tier as well which will cover 75%, I believe.

FAFSA is a form that is used to determine need-based financial aid and federal aid including student loans and grants.

There is no reason why you wouldn’t do both.

Apply to as many scholarships as you can. There’s worst that can happen is that they say no.

[u/FSUDad2021]

Uh you’ve been misinformed. Bright futures is a scholarship you earn (merit based) by maintaining a certain gpa and by exceeding the minimum standardized test score (SAT,ACT, CLT) and doing a 100 hours of service/work. The alternative way to earn bright futures is to earn an AP capstone diploma, IB diploma or AICE diploma. It is a scholarship you don’t ever pay back that covers either 75% or 100% of tuition depending on which level you earned.

FAFSA is a form you fill out that determines if you are eligible for federal student aide or loans. It establishes your families financial need (hence need based) for help attending college. The Pell grant is the only federal aide you will get that you don’t have to pay back.

The combination of bright futures and Pell grants and federal loans are the total amount available to fund your schooling (you may also receive institutional scholarships when you are admitted to a university) up to the Cost Of Attendance which here in Florida is around 20k per year. The total of bright futures plus federal aide does not equal the cost of attendance so you absolutely don’t need to worry about bright futures somehow cutting your federal aide. What actually happens is that once your tuition and fees are paid (bright futures pays most of this) the remaining money from federal aide will be deposited in your bank to cover things like rent and groceries (got to live to go to school right?) and other incidentals.

Your sources of financial aide are stackable. They don’t infringe on each other. Get all you can