Opinion: Scholarship needs reform

This session's revenue shortfall in Tallahassee has forced politicians to re-evaluate Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship program. That's good news, because the program has suffered from inattention too long. But the changes being considered by the Legislature are apt to do more harm than good. The program has grown so large, and the state's priorities so skewed toward merit-based aid, that the lean budget times demand no less than a complete overhaul of Bright Futures. Any savings realized should be funneled into the state's anemic need-based aid budget.

Both Adam Herbert, the last chancellor of Florida's University System, and his predecessor, Charles Reed, warned that Bright Futures was becoming unsustainable. When Herbert departed earlier this year, he suggested an increase in the qualifying test scores, combined with a boost in need-based aid. That way, he reasoned, Florida could still offer full tuition, fees and a book allowance to encourage top students to study in-state while meeting the needs of other students who might otherwise be unable to afford college.

But lawmakers listened only to half of Herbert's equation and ignored studies of the beneficiaries of Bright Futures. They want to raise the required scores for middle-tier "merit" awards without putting more funds into the need-based pot. This cuts out many of the graduates most in need of financial help, retains the most expensive part of Bright Futures and still does nothing to boost need-based aid. By leaving in place relatively low standards to qualify for expensive "merit" awards, lawmakers will be subsidizing many unremarkable young students with the means to afford college nearly anywhere in the nation. What's more, lawmakers added a poison pill to the entire program by freezing the scholarship awards at current levels regardless of future tuition increases.

If Bright Futures is to shrink, lawmakers would do well to begin by raising standards so that Bright Futures is a true merit program, as was its initial intent. If that happens, the savings could be used to offer more need-based assistance.

Need- and merit-based aid shouldn't have to compete, but when they do, the state should err on the side of increasing need-based aid. After all, that's what Florida law dictates. But last year, only about 27 percent of the $425-million scholarship budget went to programs to help needy students.

While it is unrealistic to expect lawmakers to fashion a new program by the end of this session, surely a plan to revamp scholarship distribution is as worthy of study as a bill to let Wal-Mart sell gasoline. Refocusing state funding to support the very best students and those most in need of financial aid will better serve Florida's students, universities and taxpayers.

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