Lawmakers have backed away from a demand that applicants for the merit-based Bright Futures Scholarship Program file for federal financial aid.

During a weekend budget conference, the House and Senate removed from a proposed Bright Futures overhaul the requirement that scholarship hopefuls file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as FAFSA.

No offense, Weiss, Handler, Angelos & Cornwall. But you’re only a law firm. You can do without Ken Pruitt.

A year before I enrolled at St. Augustine's Flagler College, I attended Mercyhurst College, a private, liberal arts school in Erie, Penn.

Pennsylvania's lottery system is designed to assist senior citizens, unlike Florida's, which is intended to improve education. Consequently, Mercyhurt's annual tuition ended up around $32,000. And that was in-state tuition. 

Former Senate President Ken Pruitt had barely left the building before his Republican colleagues went to work trashing his legacy.

By the end of this session, the Bright Futures Scholarship program, one of the most popular legislative initiatives of the last several decades in Florida, will lie gasping for breath on the Senate floor.

What a sad and senseless story.

Lawmakers will likely whittle away at the popular Bright Futures Scholarship program that pays for the education of more than half of Florida's college students this year as they write the budget for the state's colleges and universities.

The Senate is examining a change to the scholarship that could reduce the number of students who are eligible for the award and also permanently take it away from students who can't keep their grades up.