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How Did the Bad Guys Get Their Hands on All-Republican Bright Futures?

Sign 'Big Brother' form or forgo scholarship -- and be quick about it

By: Nancy Smith | Posted: July 1, 2011 3:55 AM

Around the State

Nancy Smith

All of a sudden 177,000 Bright Futures scholarship families are getting hip to what Sen. Evelyn Lynn and the rest of the lugheads in the Legislature did to one of the most successful Republican initiatives in Florida history.

They Big-Brotherized it.

They added their own Obamacare touch.

They gave the state a way to "profile" scholarship recipients, to weasel deep inside the financial affairs of Florida families.

Does this sound like the work of Florida's conservative, small-government-minded, unintrusive supermajority? Of course it doesn't. But it sure is.

Here's what's happening:

For the first time in the 13-year history of Bright Futures, recipients must fill out a financial aid form -- "Free Application for Federal Student Aid" (FAFSA). To put this in perspective, the scholarship form required for signature is virtually the same as the form that will be required by Obamacare -- if the courts clear it for takeoff.

We would abhor giving the feds our information for a nationalized health plan, why would it be OK for a state scholarship?

There's no refusing. No form, no money, no excuse -- tough luck.

This year many parents, because they didn't have to in the past, skipped right over the form. They've completed the rest of the application but omitted the FAFSA. And they're just finding out they can't do that.

"This is a federal form and Bright Futures is a state program, paid for with state lottery proceeds," said Maria Morris, whose daughter is a sophomore at the University of Central Florida. "So, I thought it was a mistake and we didn't need to apply for anything to the federal government."

But the Morrises and every other Bright Futures family in Florida are obligated to provide tax information, documented earnings for the previous year, and other data not usually required of merit-based scholars -- students whose hard work and good grades had pushed them to the top of the scholarship list.

What's more, once filled out, universities have to fire the form off to Washington. If the feds don't sign off on it, the students don't get a class. It's that simple.

And each university has a different application deadline.

"Yes, I've heard there's some confusion," Darryl Marshall, director of student financal aid at Florida State University in Tallahassee, told me Thursday. "But we started notifying families on June 20, and we've had more than 2,400 applications, with the FAFSA forms included -- which is excellent.

"We're very, very encouraged by that response," he said, "and we think we'll get the number up to 5,000 in the next couple of weeks."

Gov. Rick Scott didn't sign the Higher Education Conforming Bill until the last week in May -- a busy, end-of-the-school-year time for many families. The bill-signing went largely unnoticed.

The frustration and anger isn't all on the families' side. A financial aid officer at the University of Florida, who spoke to Sunshine State News on the condition of anonymity, claims the universities were "blindsided."

"Some students and their families are virtually unreachable," she said. "They've gone on camping trips, for instance. One young man works as a commercial fisherman when school gets out, and I can't get in touch with him. By the time they find out, it will be too late, no scholarship for them. I feel as if we were needlessly blindsided."

She said one family refused to fill out the FAFSA form because "they didn't even qualify for a car loan -- 'everybody qualifies for a car loan,' they said -- and they didn't want to be embarrassed any further."

Tags: Bright Futures, Evelyn Lynn, FAFSA, Florida State University, FSU, Maria Morris, News, Obamacare, Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, scholarship, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, Columns

Comments (2)

Kymberly

9:59AM JUL 1ST 2011

Oh my gosh. What a shock this was. As a widow, raising my two children by myself over the last 13 years - I worked VERY HARD to make sure they understood the value of excelling academically. They have known all these years that the only way I could help them with college was if they kept up their grades and community service hours in order to qualify for the Bright Futures Program, worked part-time during college and possibly qualified for additional scholarships. I also had the foresight to use a portion of the small amount of life insurance we received to pay off their Florida pre-paid college accounts. I have recently re-married to a man who has significantly more assets than me. He should in no way be responsible for the costs of sending my children to college. Yes - of course he loves us and helps to support us. However he has no children of his own and never expected that his assets and income would suddenly be scrutinized by BIG BROTHER when we are not even asking for financial aid. This is a MERIT based program. If anything, raise the bar so that it is truly bright children receiving the reward - regardless of income, color or heritage. But to have the government forcibly sticking its nose in to more information than even needs to be reported to the IRS is frightful. This is a very scary strong arm tactic that the Legislature has forced upon unsuspecting constituents. I can't believe there are not more angry people protesting this move. If I was asking the government for financial aid - that is one thing. I would happily provide all the data required to prove that I needed the assistance - which I know would come from the taxpayers in the form of grants and subsidized loans. But I chose to take the path of living within my means, trying to save some money for “rainy days” (job loss…..) and teaching my children to go above and beyond so they could be eligible for a reward based on ACHIEVEMENT not NEED. We are going in a very scary direction.

Richard Riker

4:23PM JUL 3RD 2011

Bright Futures, is that the scholarship which gives you money for scoring 970 on SAT's when the national average is 1017? Sound far less that what should be considered "Academic Excellence". Sounds more like "Below Average Academic Achievement".