Bright Futures Scholarship Program

   Bright Futures is a college scholarship funded by the state of Florida using a portion of the money collected from Florida's lottery. Using money generated by it for college scholarships helped legislators get enough votes to approve the lottery. The scholarship was part of an effort to end Florida's "brain drain;" before the scholarship many high-achieving Florida students left Florida for college and never returned, but the Bright Futures Scholarship was designed to give an incentive to stay in Florida for college.
   Homeschool students are eligible for this scholarship under the "Homeschool Option" which has some differences in requirements from those for school students.

   Many home education students have earned this scholarship. More than fifteen years ago, Palm Beach County bragged on its website that it had the highest number of home education students in the state earning the Bright Futures scholarship. Now the homeschool option is available to PEP students as well.

(The homeschool option is NOT available to umbrella school students as they are private school students and would have to use a school option instead which has more requirements than the homeschool option. For example, schooled students must present a transcript showing specific courses, but the homeschool option doesn't require that.)

What's required for homeschoolers to get this scholarship that pays for college tuition (or a portion of it)?

For the latest most accurate information, search online for the latest Bright Futures Handbook. 

2025-2026 Handbook

 Homeschool Option and Bright Futures

1. Time in home education or PEP
   Must be homeschool students for all of 12th grade and at least the last part of 11th grade.
(Those who aren't homeschooled for all of that time period can still aim for Bright Futures under an alternate process which requires taking the GED test.)

2. General requirements
   These include being a Florida resident, being a US citizen or eligible non-citizen, and not being a convicted felon.

3. Community Service or Work hours
     A. Community Service Volunteer Hours
Students must earn at least 75 hours for the lower level of scholarship or 100 hours for the higher level with appropriate documentation of all the hours to be given to the Home Education Liaison in the senior year after accounts with Federal Financial Aid and Florida Financial Aid are set up.
     B. Work Hours
Paid work hours were added as an option a few years ago to allow students who had to work (such as to help support the family) still have the opportunity for the Bright Futures scholarship. If using work hours, the total number of hours (whether work alone or a combination of work and community service) must be at least 100 hours.

  Hours from June, after the end of eighth grade, onward can count. Though the documentation is typically not submitted to the district until the senior year after online financial aid accounts at the Federal and Florida levels have been created as the hours will be entered there.

  Community service and/or work hours are to be vetted by the home education contact.
(This has been a difficulty for PEP students since the district should have no record of PEP students. Contact [email protected] for assistance on this.)
   
  Documentation is preferred on organization letterhead; some organizations prefer that the parent give them a form but you can copy it onto organization letterhead or copy and paste (with their permission), the organization logo onto a form for them to use.

  For each date, list the hours served and the service done, the name of the person supervising with their signature and their contact information (phone number and email address). The name of the organization should be clearly indicated and both the student and parent are also to sign the documentation.

  Districts may require preapproval of a plan to address a social or civic area with their hours and/or written evaluation and reflection on the community service and/or work hours. Some districts do not require this--it's best to verify, in writing, with your specific district.


4. Test Scores
   The Handbook will list the minimum test scores on the SAT or ACT or the newer CLT that must be earned to qualify for each level of scholarship. These can be superscored (mixing the best score from each section of test if the test was retaken). Test scores must be sent to one of the 12 large universities in the Florida system or to the Home Education Liaison--usually in the senior year after financial aid accounts are set up.

5. Be Admitted
   Be admitted to a College or University or trade school program accepting Bright Futures. If your student is admitted to a college, then the system assumes the homeschooling was good enough to qualify.
   Taking some dual enrollment classes or otherwise earning some college credit before graduating high school can help with college admissions--especially to a bigger college, but your student doesn't have to take public school classes (such as FLVS) nor use public school curriculum to get the scholarship. Starting at a smaller community college can be a good way to begin and the scholarship can then transfer with the student.

There's no actual application for the scholarship. If the preceding steps are done, the student can track whether he or she has been granted the Bright Futures Scholarship through the Florida financial aid account.
  Keeping grades up once the student is in college helps the student keep the scholarship after the first year of college.

We do offer consultations for those who need help figuring out how college admissions works with homeschooling.

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com