Florida Senate - 2009 CS for SB 1364
By the Committee on Higher Education; and Senator Pruitt
589-03428-09 20091364c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Florida Bright Futures
3 Scholarship Program; amending s. 1009.53, F.S.;
4 revising provisions relating to the refund by an
5 educational institution to the Department of Education
6 of funds received for courses dropped by students
7 after the end of the drop and add period; amending s.
8 1009.532, F.S.; increasing the credit hour
9 requirements for a student to remain eligible for a
10 scholarship; permitting a one-time restoration of
11 scholarship eligibility; providing an effective date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section
16 1009.53, Florida Statutes, is amended, and subsection (11) is
17 added to that section, to read:
18 1009.53 Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program.—
19 (5) The department shall issue awards from the scholarship
20 program annually. Annual awards may be for up to 45 semester
21 credit hours or the equivalent. Before the registration period
22 each semester, the department shall transmit payment for each
23 award to the president or director of the postsecondary
24 education institution, or his or her representative, except that
25 the department may withhold payment if the receiving institution
26 fails to report or to make refunds to the department as required
27 in this section.
28 (a) Within 30 days after the end of regular registration
29 each semester, the educational institution shall certify to the
30 department the eligibility status of each student who receives
31 an award. After the end of the drop and add period, an
32 institution is not required to reevaluate or revise a student’s
33 eligibility status; however, an institution but must make a
34 refund to the department within 30 days after the end of the
35 semester of any funds received for courses dropped by students
36 after the end of the drop and add period or for courses from
37 which students withdrew after the end of the drop and add period
38 unless a student has dropped or withdrawn from the course due to
39 a verifiable illness or other documented emergency if a student
40 who receives an award disbursement terminates enrollment for any
41 reason during an academic term and a refund is permitted by the
42 institution’s refund policy.
43 (11) Funds for any scholarship within the Florida Bright
44 Futures Scholarship Program may not be used to pay for courses
45 dropped after the end of the drop and add period or courses from
46 which students withdraw after the end of the drop and add period
47 except as otherwise provided in this section.
48 Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
49 1009.532, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
50 1009.532 Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program;
51 student eligibility requirements for renewal awards.—
52 (1) To be eligible to renew a scholarship from any of the
53 three types of scholarships under the Florida Bright Futures
54 Scholarship Program, a student must:
55 (a) Effective in the 2009-2010 academic year and
56 thereafter, earn Complete at least 24 12 semester credit hours
57 or the equivalent in the last academic year in which the student
58 earned a scholarship if the student was enrolled full time. If
59 the student was enrolled part time, the student must have
60 completed a prorated number of credit hours as determined by the
61 Department of Education. If a student fails to earn the minimum
62 number of hours required to renew the scholarship, the student
63 is not eligible to renew his or her scholarship for a period
64 equivalent to 1 academic year. The student is eligible for
65 restoration of the award the following academic year if the
66 student earns the number of credit hours specified by the
67 department and satisfies the grade point average for renewal. A
68 student’s scholarship may be restored one time only.
69 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.