GED (General Educational Development) Applicants
Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program

Required Documentation (no substitutions)

• Initial Student Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA).  Submit a completed FFAA online during the student’s last year in high school (after December 1st of the last year and prior to taking the Florida GED exam) or call toll-free at 1-888-827-2004 to request a hardcopy application form. The application gives the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) permission to evaluate the student's high school transcript(s) for eligibility for a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship.



• NEW - An eligible student who graduates (or earns a GED diploma) mid-year may receive an initial award in the spring term following the student’s graduation.  The FFAA must be submitted by August 31 of the student’s graduation year (prior to the spring term enrolled).



• After you submit your FFAA, you will be responsible for tracking your application and award status online and keeping OSFA informed of any demographic or institutional changes via a User ID and PIN:




Know it, Use it, Be Responsible for your state financial aid!



• The submission of a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is now an annual requirement for Bright Futures eligibility.  Note:  The student’s FAFSA does not have to indicate need; however, must be complete and processed error free prior to a student’s first disbursement of an award.  (The Florida State Programs May 15 deadline does not apply to Bright Futures.)



• Full official high school transcript submitted to the FDOE by the student’s Florida public high school or FDOE-registered private high school.  The required coursework must be completed and the minimum grade point average earned before the Florida GED exam is taken.



• NEW - SAT, ACT, or PERT test scores.  Test scores of tests taken through the end of June (no later than January 31 for mid-year graduates) of the academic year in which the student takes the GED exam will be admissible for a Bright Futures evaluation.  The SAT and ACT scores can be used to qualify for all three awards:  Florida Academic Scholars (FAS) award, Florida Medallion Scholars (FMS) award, and the Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars (GSV) award.  Submit scores to FDOE in one of the following ways (preferably the first):
  
  
• Request the test scores be sent to one of Florida’s 11 state universities when the student registers for the SAT or ACT.  These scores will be sent to the FDOE repository.
• Submit test scores on the high school transcript.
• Include the official copy (no photocopies) of the SAT/ACT/PERT test scores in the original sealed envelope. PERT tests are only administered at Florida Colleges.  These scores are only used for GSV award evaluation and must be sent directly to FDOE in a sealed envelope.

• Documentation of community service hours.  To qualify for an award, a student must complete community service hours during high school, by high school graduation.  Community service hours may not be hours that benefitted the student financially or materially or be service to family members.  Each award requires the following completed and approved community service hours:
  • FAS – 100 hours
  • FMS – 75 hours
  • GSV – 30 hours


• The agency or agencies where the community service hours were earned must provide documentation of the number of hours and dates of service completed on agency letterhead.

• Florida GED diploma will be verified by the Florida Department of Education. Please complete the GED verification process for the Division of Career and Adult Education available at http://ged.fldoe.org/pdf/GEDverification.pdf.

If the student did not apply online, mail or fax the hardcopy FFAA and/or other documentation to: