Scholarship changes disproportionately affects black and Hispanic students

By Jeffrey Pierre / Entertainment Director

With the new eligibility requirements for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program, state legislatures and officials are faced with a new problem: the changes disproportionately limit black and Hispanic students from receiving the award.

An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights attempted to assess the claim, but the examination has yet to bring any changes to the program.

While political leaders like Charlie Crist and Alberto Carvalho, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent, look to November’s midterm elections to reverse the effects, some say it’s time to redirect the conversation to finding a way where low-income students impacted by the loss of the scholarship can have the resources to attend college. Crist, the democratic candidate in Florida’s governors race, blames Republican governor seeking re-election, Rick Scott, for the changes.

According to a report by the Miami Herald, nearly half of Hispanic freshmen and two-thirds of black freshmen who would have qualified in past years did not receive an award last year.

“What we’re doing is we’re talking about need-based aid instead,” said Francisco Valines, the director of Financial Aid. “We understand that the legislature has spoken, and that this is what the Bright Futures Program should be about. But we have a large cohort of needy students whose needs aren’t being met.”

According to Valines, the state allocates just under $8 million to the University to be used as need-based aid grants. This translates into approximately 4,000 students receiving the award. “But there’s another 5,000 students who are eligible for [Florida Student Assistance Grant] who we don’t have any money for,” Valines adds.

The FSAG Program is a need-based grant program available to degree-seeking undergraduate students who demonstrate substantial financial need and are enrolled in participating post-secondary institutions.

The University has also “joined a partnership” with the University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida, two universities that like FIU, serve large urban areas. The three institutions are working to send one message to the Board of Governors: we have students who especially need financial assistance.

“That’s been our focus — lets talk to the Board of Governors about that and let’s talk to legislatures about need-based aid,” Valines said.

The Florida Board of Governors is a 17-member board that serves as the governing body for the State University System of Florida, a system of twelve public universities in the state.

Valines says, alongside putting pressure on the Board of Governors to recognize the needs of Miami-Dade’s low income households, officials should put pressure on high schools to find the resources for seniors to improve grade point averages, SAT and ACT scores.