Top Bright Futures scholars will have full tuition covered this year (including summer)

Students with the top Bright Futures scholarship will have their full tuition covered this year, the Florida Department of Education confirmed.

That means the state will pay all tuition and fees for Florida Academic Scholars — students with a minimum 3.5 GPA, 100 volunteer hours and at least a 1290 on the SAT — for the upcoming fall, spring and summer semesters. Plus, students get $300 extra cash in the fall and spring semesters.

This relief for cash-strapped students is temporary.

A bill to make 100 percent funding permanent (among other things) was vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott. However, next year’s full Bright Futures funding was already locked into the state budget.

If lawmakers don’t try again next year, funding for the top level Bright Futures scholarship will fall back to previous levels. Scott has already said he wants to continue the 100 percent tuition funding.

The lower level of Bright Futures funding — the Florida Medallion Scholar — remains the same.

This story was originally published July 14, 2017 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Top Bright Futures scholars will have full tuition covered this year (including summer)."