| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship |
| 3 | Program; amending s. 1009.53, F.S.; requiring a student to |
| 4 | reimburse the educational institution for award amounts |
| 5 | received for certain courses dropped by the student or |
| 6 | courses from which the student has withdrawn; requiring |
| 7 | reimbursements to be refunded to the Department of |
| 8 | Education; requiring an institution to notify the |
| 9 | department and student of the amount due within a |
| 10 | specified period; providing an effective date. |
| 11 |
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| 12 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) and subsection |
| 15 | (11) of section 1009.53, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: |
| 16 | 1009.53 Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program.- |
| 17 | (5) The department shall issue awards from the scholarship |
| 18 | program annually. Annual awards may be for up to 45 semester |
| 19 | credit hours or the equivalent. Before the registration period |
| 20 | each semester, the department shall transmit payment for each |
| 21 | award to the president or director of the postsecondary |
| 22 | education institution, or his or her representative, except that |
| 23 | the department may withhold payment if the receiving institution |
| 24 | fails to report or to make refunds to the department as required |
| 25 | in this section. |
| 26 | (a) Within 30 days after the end of regular registration |
| 27 | each semester, the educational institution shall certify to the |
| 28 | department the eligibility status of each student who receives |
| 29 | an award. After the end of the drop and add period, an |
| 30 | institution is not required to reevaluate or revise a student's |
| 31 | eligibility status; however, a student an institution must, make |
| 32 | a refund to the department within 60 30 days after the end of |
| 33 | the semester, reimburse or make satisfactory arrangements to |
| 34 | reimburse the institution for the award amount of any funds |
| 35 | received for courses dropped by the a student or courses from |
| 36 | which the a student has withdrawn after the end of the drop and |
| 37 | add period, unless the student has been granted an exception by |
| 38 | the department pursuant to subsection (11). A reimbursement to |
| 39 | an institution resulting from a student's dropped course or a |
| 40 | course from which a student has withdrawn after the end of the |
| 41 | drop and add period shall be refunded to the department by the |
| 42 | institution. |
| 43 | (11) Funds for any scholarship within the Florida Bright |
| 44 | Futures Scholarship Program may not be used to pay for courses |
| 45 | dropped by a student or courses from which a student has |
| 46 | withdrawn after the end of the drop and add period. However, a |
| 47 | student who receives an award under this program and |
| 48 | subsequently drops one or more courses or withdraws from all |
| 49 | courses after the end of the drop and add period due to a |
| 50 | verifiable illness or other documented emergency may be granted |
| 51 | an exception pursuant to s. 1009.40(1)(b)4., unless the |
| 52 | institution's policy is to refund the cost of the courses. The |
| 53 | department shall notify eligible recipients of the provisions of |
| 54 | this subsection. Each institution shall notify award recipients |
| 55 | of the provisions of this subsection during the registration |
| 56 | process. Within 30 days after determining that a student has |
| 57 | dropped a course or has withdrawn from a course after the end of |
| 58 | the drop and add period, in the absence of an exception granted |
| 59 | by the department under this subsection, the institution shall |
| 60 | notify the department and the student of the amount due |
| 61 | resulting from such course drop or withdrawal. |
| 62 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010. |