Ep 56 | Free College in 15 Minutes? [RELOADED]

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There's so many different pathways to getting from point A to point B. And you may have actually point, you know, a point one, point two, point three in between. And so again, you're not, you want to always keep those those bridges of opportunity open. And it's a 15-minute application. Complete it. Just complete it.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambi County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. When you think of adjectives that describe you as a parent, what comes to mind? Devoted? Tired? Broke, maybe? Kids are expensive, and then they go to college and come back on the weekends and eat all your food. While my next guest may not be able to help you with the food part, she does have some information to at least save some cash. She is the school counseling specialist in the student services department, and today she's going to help us understand how to get kids to college for free, or partially free, by sharing some lesser-known things about the Bright Futures Scholarship. Louisiana to Florida, first generation college grad, unlocking opportunity, Holly Bussey. Hello, hello. Hello. Nice to be here. Yeah, I'm so glad that you're here. Thanks. You spent your whole adult career in education. And I feel like, just you know, the short time I've known you, you could be in, you could work in a variety of roles.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Well, thanks. You're welcome. Appreciate that. So I'd like to think that too.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Hair flip. Yes, toss toss. So what makes you so fired up specifically about helping, you know, students find financing for college?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Well, I have always, always wanted to be in the helping professions. And so when my husband, believe it or not, said, What about school counseling? I said, hmm, why not? So I really did find my niche. And I love, I just love working with students and with families. And in my current position, I don't get to work as much with them. I'm providing that training for the counselors so that they can make sure they can provide the information to the families. So, but I'm really excited about being here because, like I said, I really do enjoy providing that information to the kids and their and their parents.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

That can be a big change for a family to know that that's an option. It can change the way that they think about the future. And I think it can change the way students view themselves in the context of school. Because if you don't feel like you have a very hopeful after graduation life ahead of you, then your during school, your focus is not going to be to perform academically or, you know, be a good citizen or get volunteer hours. You know, you're just not thinking with the end in mind when you're thinking this is the peak of my life. Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Exactly. This is not, as I always like to say, high school and high school graduation is not the end, but it's the beginning. I look at it as a springboard. Um, and that you're just going to be diving off into whatever might interest you. And so for some students, it is going to be college, but that might look like a two-year program or a four-year, your traditional four-year, could also be a technical college, like our own George Stone technical college year is great. They've got wonderful programs that students can, you know, within a year, they can actually be out there making, making some very good money. And in many cases, more money than I make with a master's degree.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

So wonk, wonk.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yes, exactly. But when you need that plumber, you need that plumber, or you need that heating and air conditioning person. So um again, I think it is important that students be thinking about what they want to do post-high school. So going into that post-secondary um phase of their life. And it doesn't have to always be that traditional college, but something, whether it's that career, whether it's military, whatever it might be. But um when you are looking into continuing your education, it's definitely helpful when you have the funds to be able to do that and to assist you in that endeavor. And Bright Futures, I'm glad we're talking about bright futures because um it's a great scholarship program.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

And there's different types of bright futures scholarships. Can you talk about that?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yes. So there are the Florida Academic and the Florida Medallion Scholars scholarships are ones that can be used regardless of where you want to go. So again, two-year, four-year college, um, a technical college, you can use the FAS or the FMS, Florida Academic, Florida Medallion. Um, then they have the Gold Seal Vocational Scholarship as well as the Gold Seal CAPE Scholarship. And the Gold Seal Vocational is really more for those students who are going to go into a career certificate type of program, so like Georgetown Technical Center. Gold Seal Vocational cannot be used at a four-year standard university. Then the Gold Seal CAPE is one that's only been around for a few years now. And it is it's similar to the vocational in the sense that you're going to use it for either a technical degree program or a certificate program. But you can, after you get an associate in science or an associate in applied science degree, you can then potentially be eligible to have additional two years worth of college to get your baccalaure degree, your bachelor's degree, um, in either mostly in a bachelor's of science or a bachelor of applied science. So for example, think nursing. Nursing is an example where if I went to a two-year program, like at Pensacola State College, and I um got my associate of science degree and I've used that gold seal cape to be able to do that. Now, if I want to go on and get my bachelor's of science and nursing, I can do that. And because I've had the gold seal cape, I might very well be eligible for um being able to get the rest of my college, the rest of that nursing degree paid for, or that bachelor's part of the nursing degree paid for. So that's a little bit of the difference between the gold seal cape and the gold seal vocational. Um there are specific GPA and test score requirements that are needed for the different scholarships. I don't know if Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Do you know what? I mean, if you have that detailed information, first of all, I will be very impressed. But um, if you don't, even just like a a roundabout for, you know, maybe an average across the board for all of the different types of bright future scholarships, because if if if um if students are anything like I was when I was a student, I tended to unqualify for myself for lots of things just because you know, maybe I was like a nervous kid. I say maybe I was. I was. It's true. Um, and so I feel like that maybe is the tendency of some people to go, oh, you know what, I don't qualify for this grant because I probably make too much money or I don't have a perfect GPA or et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, can we talk about what the requirements are?

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Sure, sure. So the for the Florida academic, that's your that's your highest level, if you will. And you need to have a 3.5 um GPA, and that's a bright futures GPA. So let me just explain that. When you know, students in their student information system, they're gonna see a weighted or an unweighted GPA. Bright Futures calculates the GPA a little bit differently. So what they see in their student information system is not going to necessarily be what the Bright Futures GPA is. And so counselors have the ability to go into the Bright Futures system and be able to pull a list of all of their students so that they can actually see what their Bright Futures GPA is. Okay. So you need a 3.5 GPA for the Florida Academic, you need a 3.0 GPA for the Florida medallion. So what I always did when I was a school-based school counselor is pretty much if my students had in that range in their student information system, I was definitely prodding them and encouraging them to continue to do well in their classes so that they could maintain that level of their GPA. For there are certain test scores as well. So, for example, for the Florida academic, um, a student would either need to have a 29 composite ACT score or a 1340 total score for the SAT. For the Florida medallion, they would need to have a 25 ACT composite score or a 1210 SAT composite or total score. The other requirement for those scholarships are community service hours or paid work hours. And that's something that is new from the legislature. Um, Governor DeSantis just signed that June 27th, I think it was, of this year. So that students can either do community service work or they can get their hours through paid work hours. So for the Florida Academic Scholarship, you would need to have 100 community service hours or 100 paid work hours. For the Florida Medallion Scholarship, you need to have 75 community service hours or 100 paid work hours. And yes, I did say 100 because if you're going to use paid work hours, it has to be 100 regardless of the scholarship. So that's Florida Academic, Florida Medallion, Gold Seal Vocational, Gold Seal Cape. They all have to have, if you're going to use work hours, you have to have 100 minimum. And you can't combine the two. So it's either community service hours or it's the paid work hours.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

What if you're a self-employed kid?

SPEAKER_00 11:26

If you're a self-employed kid, that's a very good question because the um the legislature has given each district the ability to make those determinations of what's going to be allowed as paid work. And we are actually in um conversations right now with legal counsel to make that determination. Um initially, you know, I know we've talked about do we accept any paid work or is it only if it has a W-2? You know, so we're trying to kind of figure that out. The one thing that the legislature loves to do is they um make these laws and then they say, here you go, districts, you all figure, you know, you all figure it out. So um we're waiting on additional guidance and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

So do you have the sovereignty to quote figure it out? Meaning like you as a district can decide, yes, uh babysitting counts as work or making money off of YouTube or TikTok. Because that's, you know, a real thing.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

That is a real thing for uh some of our students. Um, probably a lot more than I even know. Um so, so yes, we do have that sovereignty, that ability. It's just a matter of trying to make sure that when we make that decision, it's going to be fair and equitable, you know, across the board. So that's why we always we always try and get all of our ducks in a row before before you make an announcement. Yeah, before we make an announcement.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

So it sounds like from the requirements that you're sit you're talking about, waiting until your last six months of your senior year would be a bad idea, no? Very bad idea.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Yes. In fact, um, students really students can begin begin getting their community service hours, well, we said the summer before their freshman year. Oh, wow. In high school, so that they can begin to get volunteer hours at that time. Now, the paid work hours, since it just went into effect June 27th, it would have to be any work hours earned or or completed after you know that date. So um, but yes, it students really need to be working on this sooner rather than later because every little bit counts. And for students who are now taking high school classes in the eighth grade, their GPA is already starting in the eighth grade. So they come into ninth grade with a high school GPA already there. And so all of that counts. And when you look at funding for college, um unless you end up with a complete full ride at a university or a college, which would include room and board, tuition, fees, um, a stipend for books, unless you get that, you're going to have to what it's called stacking. So you're going to have to stack different um funding sources together in order to have your complete cost of attendance met. And so Bright Futures is certainly one, I don't like to say it's an it's an easy way, but it is a way, I think, for many, many of our students, most of our students, quite frankly, because I believe they all have the capacity and the ability to do this.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Well, I from what you were describing of the requirements, I was thinking, okay, 3.0-ish uh GPA, although Bright Futures has its own calculation of that, but ish, like if it's in the neighborhood, we'll say. And then I'm really not that familiar with SAT or ACT scores, but I'm just gonna tell me if I'm wrong, say that if you're a mediocre student who uh is going to school with intention, meaning you're thinking about the future at least a little bit, right? It sounds like you could be in the ballpark of qualification for the bright future scholarship.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yes, I I absolutely believe so. And I have seen, I have seen that happen because when I was at, again, school-based counselor myself, I worked with the students from the time they were in ninth grade, they knew about the bright future scholarships. And then I would monitor their their progress. And when I saw a student was close, um, I'm pushing them and I'm showing them, look, this is where you are according to bright futures calculations. Let's go ahead. You need to make sure you're making, you know, we need some more A's here. We need to make sure we're we're staying away from those C's. We want A's and B's and just encouraging them so that they could see, yeah, this is this is really something that I can do. This is something I can get to. And and if not, if they end up um, or if they choose to go the more technical route, there's still a way for them to be able to get that funding, get to where they want to be, and at least, again, giving them um uh some assistance.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

So do students need to know what route they're going before they apply for the scholarship, meaning technical or traditional?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Um not really. When what we do is as a district, we submit transcripts to the state three times a year. Bright Futures then evaluates them. So you may have a student who actually may qualify for both the FAS, the Florida Academic, let's just say, as well as the Gold Seal CAPE, because the Gold Seal CAPE, the requirements are 30 community service hours or 100 paid work hours, and um five post-secondary credits that articulate for or five credits based on industry certifications that articulate towards post-secondary credit. So for example, when students take these um when they're in these academies and they're taking these different um technical type classes and then they're taking their industry certs. In high school. In high school, yes, in high school. So when they are earning their industry certs, there are certain industry certs or certifications that are that will that are worth so many college credits. And those college credits will now articulate to the college side of things, meaning that we can we can move them over to the college side, if you will. So let's say a student gets an industry certification and it's worth three college credits. And now let's say they get another industry certification that's worth another three college credits. Well, that student now has six college credits that can articulate. And because they have more than five, they're going to be in the running for the Gold Seal CAPE scholarship as well. And so then it's a matter of whichever one is the highest and also what the student wants to do. So remember, I said that the Florida Academic and the Florida medallion can be used anywhere. So if I as a student I've qualified for Florida Academic or Medallion, but I've also qualified for the CAPE, I'm gonna be able to use the higher of the awards. And if the higher of the awards is the um academic or medallion, then I can use that one, even though I may be going to PSC for two years to get a technical degree or um or even going to George Stone if I wanted to go to George Stone and do a career certificate program.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

So it's it's a lot of flexibility. It is flexibility, yes. That's really interesting. So it sounds like you know, to summarize the qualifications, mediocre student. I hate to say that, but I mean, sometimes you are, you know, school is not your thing for everyone. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

And that's okay. Yeah so mediocre student. Plus, I think parents, right? I I mean that that's who we're talking to. Is so maybe, you know, they're they notice that their child is not particularly motivated for sitting in a classroom. I couldn't do it as me in this moment. I couldn't, I can't sit at my desk at home for more than 20 minutes. So it's okay. It's okay, kids. There's hope for the future. She's successful, I promise. I promise. I'm legit. Um so mediocre student, it has nothing to do with income bracket. You just have to attend a college or technical school in Florida. Am I all correct so far? And what about Florida virtual school students? Can they qualify also? Yes. Okay, great. I always like to include them because they left out. They can they can get left out, and I want to make sure. Yes. Okay, so the application process, how long is it? Do you have to write an essay about yourself? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

No, the Florida Financial Aid Application or F FAA, very simple. Um, maybe it'll take 15 minutes if that long. Uh it's a series of questions, and um that's it. Okay. And students do need to complete that. What we do, and what I tell our school counselors, is get in front of every senior, which they typically do in the fall, go into the classrooms and provide some um classroom instruction specifically on graduation and post-secondary and that sort of thing. But use that time to have them go ahead and complete the FFAA right then and there. Because once it's done, then it's done and they don't have to worry about it. Um, we want all students to complete that FFAA prior to graduation.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

And does it require a parent signature?

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Does not.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Okay, because I was thinking about foster kids. And so that is that is really wow. I'm really impressed by this. Yes. Okay, so not to be negative, Nancy, over here, but can we go over some objections? Like, for example, a student says, Oh, I don't need to do that because I'm going into the military.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Yes. And and I heard that many times in our counselors, that's probably one of the biggest um difficulties that our counselors face. With our kids when they say, Oh, I'm going into the military, I don't need to do this, or I'm going to a school in Alabama, or I'm moving back to California and I'm gonna go to school there. Okay, that's all great and fine. Take 15 minutes and complete the application. Because um, and you do have to be a resident of the state of Florida, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Which is how long do you have to live here to be a resident?

SPEAKER_00 22:25

12, 12 months. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Twelve months to be a resident.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

So, um, but because what has happened, unfortunately, life happens sometimes, right? And what we have seen is that a student insists they're going into the military or they're going out of state, and then something happens. And now they're stuck because if they do not apply for this scholarship prior to August 31st of the year they graduate, and we tell students before graduation because they're captive audiences then.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

But I mean, we've lied to kids about words. Yeah, right. It's fine. That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

You know, we're like, okay, but please, you're a captive audience, I have you here now. Because, but if they do not apply, they forfeit all opportunities of that scholarship. And what the legislature did a couple of years ago is they changed things so that if you apply prior to August 31st, really before graduation, everybody out there, and um and you don't use it, you have five years to reinstate it. So let's say you do go into the military and you're there for a year and something happens and it doesn't work out, or you've gotten a scholarship to go play ball in Alabama, and you bust your knee out a semester later, or a year later, or two years later, or whatever. You now can come back and if you have already applied for that scholarship, you can reinstate it. You have five years to do that. So that's huge. Yeah. But even when we explain that to students, um a lot of times they they don't listen. And that's not uncommon. And a teenager not listening? I know. What are you talking about? That never happens. They need to stop having their own minds at that age.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

They need to just wait. Yes. You know what's interesting about the five-year expiration date is I, you know, do meet a lot of children who are gonna be YouTubers because YouTubers make millions of dollars. And, you know, kids are like super creative and outside the box, more and more so. And I just really love that about them. And so they may be thinking in that direction, media content of some sort. And so if they apply for bright futures, they go the direction of media content, and then they realize that they actually have a passion for um producing and directing, and that they would love to get some technical skills to support their business. Right. I think that is so valuable because going from school environment to school environment, again, not for everyone. Sometimes having that break of maybe a gap you're traveling to provide perspective or you know, working provides perspective, also having your own business, all these things that may be a part of their coming-of-age process. And so that the Bright Futures Scholarship can support it by them coming back to it. It's not necessarily coming back with your tail between your legs, but a way that you can just have options as a young person who doesn't have a fully developed brain. Yes. You know, that that's science. That is science.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

And that yes, that is science. Not until you're 25 at least. Yes, and I wish it wasn't, but it is it is true. So, and and yes, I'm glad that you that you mentioned that because um, you know, there are so many different pathways to there's so many different pathways to getting from point A to point B. And you may have actually point, you know, a point one, point two, point three in between. And so again, you're not you want to always keep those those bridges of opportunity open. And it's a 15-minute application. Complete it, just complete it. If you end up not being eligible, well, you know what? That's okay because there are other scholarships, grants, there are other ways to get college, to help get college paid for. But this is 15 minutes. It's 15 minutes of your time. You know, you can spend 15 minutes scrolling through Facebook in, you know, a blink of an eye. So you need to just do this because you now have that potential ability. That's that one of those bridges that you don't quite, don't quite close. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Don't burn it.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Don't burn it. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

So an overwhelmed parent is listening to this and they're thinking, okay, I need to start this process, make sure we're tracking and logging volunteerslash work hours correctly. Where do they go to? Where's the HQ for all of us?

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Gotcha. That is gonna be their school counselor in their school. They're gonna go to the um school counseling department and talk with whichever school counselor they have and say, hey, I want more information about bright futures and I need to be able to log my hours. And um, some schools I know actually put a packet of information together, like in a little booklet form. But this information is also on the website. Um, the forms have not been updated with this new legislation. Like I said, I'm still waiting, but the um volunteer log form that is on our district website under guidance services, um, they can use that to log work hours at this point. Um, and there's other information that is is on there as far as bright futures. Again, has not been updated yet, unfortunately, because we're still waiting for some direction. But I'm hoping that's going to be soon.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Yeah, and it may be updated by the time this airs. So definitely go check. Definitely go check. This has been such a good discussion. Thank you so much for sharing this information. Thank you for having me. I've appreciated it. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.