FAMU held an ice cream social and press conference in the Quadrangle to celebrate its Florida Bright Futures Scholars. President James H. Ammons and Rep. Alan Williams (D-Tallahassee) were among the featured speakers.The university recognized a number of its Bright Futures Scholarship recipients during the event, who wore Orange & Green “tie dye”-style tee shirts.
The Bright Futures Scholarship program was created in 1997 to encourage the state’s top performing high schoolers to attend college in Florida. It is funded by the Florida Lottery, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last week.
Former President Frederick S. Humphries strategically took advantage of Bright Futures to relieve strain on the FAMU recruitment budget. National Achievement Scholarship (NAS) finalists and semi-finalists from Florida automatically qualify for the Academic Scholarship, which formely paid 100 percent of tuition and fees.
When FAMU attracted those students, it didn’t have to pay a dime for their tuition and fees because the state picked up the tab. That meant that FAMU only had to cover the costs of room and board.
During Bright Futures’ first year in 1997-1998, FAMU ranked number one in NAS recruitment. It also held the top spot in 2000 (with Harvard University tied).
The differential tuition program approved by the Florida Legislature in 2009 has made it more expensive for FAMU to bring Bright Futures Scholars to the university. The differential permits every public university to hike tuition by an up to 15 percent differential that goes beyond the rates set by the legislature in the annual appropriations bill. The differential is not be covered by Bright Futures.
Even though FAMU has implemented the full differential hike each year since 2009, it has taken some steps to reduce the new burden on the scholarship budget. They include: rebuilding the Industry Cluster, soliciting more alumni donations, and increasing the amount of fee waivers for out-of-state students (who require the most expensive scholarship packages).