Scholars skipping summer school

Though required to attend, the students can't use their Bright Future scholarships this summer.

By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 11, 2002

Just two days before classes began last month at the University of Florida, junior Alisa Lee learned she could not use her Bright Future scholarship to pay for summer school.

The news surprised Lee and thousands of other college students across the state who count on the enormously popular scholarships to pay for most of their tuition at Florida universities and community colleges.

"We had no clue," said Lee, 20, of Riverview in Hillsborough County. "We weren't notified at all."

Last year's cost-cutting move by the Legislature left students and parents across the state scrambling for ways to pay for school.

Some students decided to take fewer classes, or no classes at all -- making it difficult for them to fulfill a requirement that all Florida students attend summer school.

Florida's largest schools have seen an unusual drop in summer enrollment, some almost as much as 10 percent, for the first time in years, a phenomenon that some school officials attribute to the lack of scholarships.

At the University of South Florida, enrollment is down about 8.2 percent. At the University of Florida, it's down almost 4 percent.

At some schools, including Florida State University, enrollment continued to rise, but officials say even more students may have attended summer school if Bright Futures had been available.

"They weren't too happy," said Steve Runion, USF assistant director of financial aid. "There was disappointment and confusion.

Some universities sent letters to students informing them of the change. Others relied on Internet sites and student newspapers.

But some students still didn't hear the news until they arrived on campus.

"We had a lot of complaints about it," said Nikki Fried, UF student body president.

The state originally budgeted $11.9-million to pay for merit-based summer scholarships, but legislators scrapped the program during a special session after Sept. 11 and last year's downturn in the economy.

"I just think their priorities are messed up," said Alisa Lee's dad, Mike, who spent $400 for one psychology class instead of the three she wanted to take.

Later, after lobbying by students, lawmakers restored the program for a small number of students: financially needy seniors graduating this summer.

"This was a big battle," said Mike Griffin, USF student body president, whose parents are helping to pay for his three classes this summer. "We felt like that was better than losing it all."

Florida students must take nine credits, about three classes, during summer school to graduate -a requirement much more difficult to complete without scholarship money.

"If you're going to take away the funding, you should take away the requirement," said David Foy, executive director of the Florida Student Association.

Bright Future scholarships were created in 1997 as a way to fulfill political promises that lottery money would be spent on education. And though they haven't been available every summer since, they have been popular the past two years.

About 100,000 students, roughly a third of Florida's high school graduates, received money from Bright Future last year, costing more than $200-million. About a third of them enrolled in summer courses last year.

The scholarships pay 75 to 100 percent of in-state tuition for students who graduate from high school with at least a B average and a score of 970 on their SATs.

As a result, more students are attending state schools, which have become more crowded, and and every tuition increase triggers greater costs to the state.

Such problems prompted lawmakers to consider changing the scholarships from merit-based to need-based, raising minimum standards or eliminating parts of the programs, like summer school.

No decision has been made on whether they will fund the scholarships next summer but some think it's unlikely.

"We're fighting to keep it status quo," Foy said. "If you modify the program, they'll go elsewhere."

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