Florida Bright Future Research Paper
Gallimore 1
Damaris Gallimore
Professor Flanagan
ENC 1101
April 3, 2010
Florida Bright Futures: Bright for Whom?
For over a decade, the Bright Futures Scholarship (BFS), Florida’s lottery-funded, meritbased scholarship program, has had a love-hate relationship amongst Florida’s population.
Despite its popularity among middle class citizens, the BFS has been criticized for educating more prosperous white families who could afford to send their children to college without aid, and making college opportunity more unequal by widening the racial gaps in postsecondary education. Merit scholarships like the BFS lock out a large number of students that cannot afford college, particularly minorities and low-income students who have traditionally …show more content…
The Florida
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Department of Education recorded that White students were awarded 72% of the scholarships, while Black students received 7% and Hispanic Students received 12% of BFS awards
(Mckinney 91). By and large these reports confirm that the very students who have been underrepresented in higher education are the least likely to be rewarded by merit scholarships.
Adding insult to injury is that minorities and people of lower income and lower education spend the most on the lottery and consequently fund the BFS; placing public sector economists against the use of lottery funds to pay for the BFS because it is a “regressive source of state revenue…tak[ing] a larger percentage share of income away from low-income citizens” (Borg and Stranahan 60). Granting merit-based aid with lottery tax dollars has caused extreme inequities in the distribution of scholarships. Sample studies led by Borg and Stranahan disclose that 81% of the BFS recipients had annual household incomes of over $40,000 and 32.4% of the recipients had household incomes exceeding $80,000, with 70.9% of these families not …show more content…
This solution would address the goal of keeping Florida’s best students in-state by continuing to offer a substantial award amount for academic accomplishments, and at the same time, expanding access to students who have long been underrepresented at Florida’s universities. After all, structuring the program to include provisions that will increase the potential benefit for those whose need is greater would promote the purpose of the BFS.
In summary, if the primary goals of the BFS are to increase higher education to all of
Florida’s citizens, provisions should be made to expand college access to all students regardless of race or whether they are born into well-off families or attend “good” schools. The need for policies that decrease the existing inequities and link the breach between rich and poor is apparent. Marin makes a valid point in raising the same awareness that exists in primary education, to the postsecondary level by illustrating, “In K-12 education, our
Damaris Gallimore
Professor Flanagan
ENC 1101
April 3, 2010
Florida Bright Futures: Bright for Whom?
For over a decade, the Bright Futures Scholarship (BFS), Florida’s lottery-funded, meritbased scholarship program, has had a love-hate relationship amongst Florida’s population.
Despite its popularity among middle class citizens, the BFS has been criticized for educating more prosperous white families who could afford to send their children to college without aid, and making college opportunity more unequal by widening the racial gaps in postsecondary education. Merit scholarships like the BFS lock out a large number of students that cannot afford college, particularly minorities and low-income students who have traditionally …show more content…
The Florida
Gallimore 4
Department of Education recorded that White students were awarded 72% of the scholarships, while Black students received 7% and Hispanic Students received 12% of BFS awards
(Mckinney 91). By and large these reports confirm that the very students who have been underrepresented in higher education are the least likely to be rewarded by merit scholarships.
Adding insult to injury is that minorities and people of lower income and lower education spend the most on the lottery and consequently fund the BFS; placing public sector economists against the use of lottery funds to pay for the BFS because it is a “regressive source of state revenue…tak[ing] a larger percentage share of income away from low-income citizens” (Borg and Stranahan 60). Granting merit-based aid with lottery tax dollars has caused extreme inequities in the distribution of scholarships. Sample studies led by Borg and Stranahan disclose that 81% of the BFS recipients had annual household incomes of over $40,000 and 32.4% of the recipients had household incomes exceeding $80,000, with 70.9% of these families not …show more content…
This solution would address the goal of keeping Florida’s best students in-state by continuing to offer a substantial award amount for academic accomplishments, and at the same time, expanding access to students who have long been underrepresented at Florida’s universities. After all, structuring the program to include provisions that will increase the potential benefit for those whose need is greater would promote the purpose of the BFS.
In summary, if the primary goals of the BFS are to increase higher education to all of
Florida’s citizens, provisions should be made to expand college access to all students regardless of race or whether they are born into well-off families or attend “good” schools. The need for policies that decrease the existing inequities and link the breach between rich and poor is apparent. Marin makes a valid point in raising the same awareness that exists in primary education, to the postsecondary level by illustrating, “In K-12 education, our