Written by Chris Hernandez
Florida’s Bright Futures program has two main awards, and the difference between them is worth thousands of dollars a year. The Florida Academic Scholars award (FAS) covers 100% of tuition and applicable fees at Florida public universities. The Florida Medallion Scholars award (FMS) covers 75%. Same schools, same application, different test score requirements.
For recent graduating classes, the Academic Scholars award has required an SAT score of 1340 (or a 29 ACT), while the Medallion award has required a 1210 (or a 25 ACT). The state can adjust these cutoffs from year to year, so always confirm the current requirements for your graduation year on the Florida Student Scholarship and Grant Programs site. Test scores are not the only requirement either: each award also has GPA, coursework, and community service requirements, which we break down in our full Bright Futures guide.
At UF, FSU, UCF, or any Florida public university, the 100% award means tuition is essentially free for four years. The 75% award is still substantial, but the gap between the two adds up to thousands of dollars over a degree. Put differently: the 130-point difference between a 1210 and a 1340 is one of the highest-value score improvements in all of college admissions.
This is the most common situation we see, and it is very fixable. A student at 1280 chasing the 1340 cutoff does not need to relearn the SAT. They need targeted work on their two or three weakest question types and enough timed practice to stop leaving easy points on the table. Most students in this range close the gap in 6 to 10 weeks with a focused study plan, and Bright Futures uses your best section scores across test dates, so every retake is another chance.
Bright Futures is a threshold game. A 1339 earns the 75% award and a 1340 earns the 100% award, so prep should be engineered around the exact number your student needs. A few points can be worth thousands in tuition. Our SAT tutoring in Miami targets the exact cutoff your student needs, with a plan built backward from the next available test date.
Christopher Hernandez, the founder of Amikka Learning, couldn't afford expensive SAT tutoring so he spent hundreds of hours studying on his own.
After
improving over 400 points and attending an Ivy League school he realized how unfair
the playing field was with tutoring: no matter how smart you were, if you couldn't
afford tutoring you were stuck.
His dream was to change this.
He began
tutoring for the SAT and quickly realized that he was a gifted tutor. His students
were loving his program and improving very fast.
Fast forward 8 years, Amikka
is a leader in the education industry and has helped thousands of students get into
their dream schools.
If you'd like a free consultation for 1-on-1 tutoring
schedule a call with our team here.
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their dream schools. Why? So they can ultimately achieve their highest potential--no
matter who they are or where they come from.
We offer a spectrum of SAT and
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in order to find the best fit for our students and their learning styles.
