By Michael Moore Jr.
Legislation signed by Gov. Rick Scott earlier this month will bring changes to universities throughout the state.
One education bill, in addition to stripping USF St. Petersburg of its separate accreditation, will permanently expand the Bright Futures scholarship program for those high-achieving students who qualify.
Another will give students who take too many classes en route to earning a bachelor’s degree the opportunity to avoid financial penalty.
The Florida Excellence in Higher Education Act, or Senate Bill 4, will award the top tier of Bright Futures, “Academic Scholar,” with 100 percent of tuition and fees covered and a $300 stipend for textbooks. The second tier, “Medallion Scholars,” will have 75 percent of their tuition and fees covered.
The scholarship will also now cover summer classes, with the changes coming into effect during the 2018 summer semester.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, this marks a $124 million investment into the program, bolstering its coverage to pre-recession levels.
Over the last several years, the top tier of Bright Futures recipients have received about half of the average annual in-state tuition cost of approximately $6,100, while the next tier received about a third of tuition.
According to the Times, the program was initially slashed during the recession years, with lawmakers reducing the amount of the awards and the pool of students receiving them. This legislation permanently boosts the program back to its original levels.
In order to qualify for the top tier award package, students must have a weighted GPA of 3.5, 29 or higher on the ACT or a 1,290 on the SAT and 100 service hours.
The second tier requires a 3.0, a 26 on the ACT or 1,170 on the SAT and 75 service hours.
Another piece of legislation, House Bill 565, requires state universities to refund up to 12 hours of assessed excess credit hour surcharge fees to first-time-in-college students who graduate within four years of enrollment.
Students who take in excess of 132 credit hours for a major that only needs 120 credit hours pay an excess-hour surcharge, which doubles the tuition rate.
As per the new legislation, students would pay the initial penalty but would later be reimbursed for up to 12 hours through a refund given by the university.
In addition to the changes made to the Bright Future program and consolidated accreditation, SB 4 brings other changes.
The bill also prevents campuses from creating designated “free speech zones” by creating the “Campus Free Expression Act.”
In it, there is language that states that universities may create and enforce restrictions that are “reasonable and content-neutral” but that such restrictions must “be clear and published” and “provide for alternative means of expression.”
However, it also states that a public institution may not designate any area of campus as a free-speech zone or “create policies restricting expressive activities to a particular outdoor area of campus.”
Several free-speech advocacy groups have been critical of said zones in the past, citing a violation of the First Amendment.
Header photo courtesy of Bright Futures
