There are so many Florida Scholarships available to students looking to sign up for an academic program at a university or college.
There are many federal and/or state-sponsored scholarship programs and for eligible students, there are also some interesting private programs available.
Private and public scholarships and grants are offered through multiple channels in Florida. Contact your high school counselor and/or the financial aid officer at your college for details. Let’s take a closer look at some of the options.
Rosewood Family Scholarship Program
There are also quite a few private scholarship programs available in Florida to help students fund their higher education. One of these private programs is the Rosewood Family Scholarship (RFS) Program.
Qualifying students cannot hold default status on previous support and must be enrolled in an accredited program on a full-time basis. They cannot have been pursuing an academic degree before and attend an educational institution in the Florida Public University and Community College System or a state-approved career center.
Participating schools in the Rosewood Family Scholarship Program are Aparicio-Levy Technical Ctr; Brevard Community College; Chipola College; DG Erwin Technical Ctr; Edison State College; Florida Atlantic University; Florida Gateway College; Gadsden Technical Institute; Henry W Brewster Technical Ctr; Indian River State College; Leary Technical Ctr; MDCPS-The English Ctr; Palm Beach State College; Radford M Locklin Technical Ctr; Seminole State College; Thomas P Haney Technical Ctr; Walton Career Development Ctr; and many more.
Minority Teachers Education Scholarship
This is an interesting option. Minority Teachers Education Scholarships are performance-based grants for Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American college students. The organization Florida Fund for Minority Teachers has a full list available of educational institutions that participate in the program.
Eligible students must be enrolled in a Florida Public College or State University that offers teacher education programs, attend an Educator Preparation Institute (EPI), attend a public community college that offers teacher education programs, or be enrolled in an independent university or college that offers teacher education programs. Interesting is also this post that informs students looking to enroll in Florida State University about available scholarship opportunities.
Florida First Generation Matching Grant
Students who qualify for scholarship grants under the Florida First Generation Matching Grant Program must be the first members within their direct families that pursue an undergraduate degree.
Applicants must be Florida residents attending an accredited Florida State University or a Community College in the Florida College System whose parents don’t hold a bachelor’s degree and who can demonstrate substantial financial need.
Jose Marti Scholarship Challenge
The highly respected Jose Marti Scholarship Challenge Grant Program is a merit-based scholarship for Hispanic students that can demonstrate financial hardship. The program’s financial support is awarded to graduating high school seniors so applying for the grant in a timely manner is required.
Eligible students must enroll in a participating private or public community college or university in Florida. The challenge is open only to Florida residents of Hispanic cultural ancestry that have had least a 3.0 GPA for a number of years in a row and have no student aid defaults. The following schools are among participating in the Jose Marti Scholarship Program:
Acupuncture & Massage College; Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine; AI Miami Int’l University of Art & Design; American Intercontinental University; Angley College; Argosy College; Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale; ATI College of Health; Barry University; Brown Mackie College; Carlos Albizu University; Chamberlain College of Nursing; Clearwater Christian College; Dade Medical College; East West College of Natural Medicine; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Florida Career College–Clearwater; Jose Maria Vargas University; Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts; Northwood University; Pensacola State College; Seminole State College; Touro College; Ultimate Medical Academy–Clearwater; Webber International University; and many more.
FAS and FMS
In another post, we provide more elaborate information about the Florida Academic Scholarship (FAS) and Florida Medallion Scholarship (FMS) programs so if you want detailed information about these options, check out this page.
These scholarships are provided under the Florida Bright Futures Program and are targeted at students with a sufficient GPS, high SAT or ACT scores, and who have participated in community services activities.
FAS and FMS grants cover 100% or 75% of tuition costs and students receiving funds under the program are required to maintain eligibility requirements and standards.
Florida Student Aid
If you want to receive financial aid in Florida, you must always start with submitting the FAFSA, a standardized student aid application. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) makes you eligible for a number of federal financial aid options and is also your qualifying document in the state of Florida. If you don’t file FAFSA, your quest for financial student support goes nowhere.
The FAFSA compiles information regarding your and your family’s situation. Your family size is taken into account as are your and your family’s income and assets. Check out also this page with information about Premier Scholarships available to incoming students at the prestigious University of Miami.
So it creates an overview of your financial position as you want to head into college. Financial aid experts will analyze your financial position and determine the level of your need and they use overall college costs and your family’s expected contribution possibility.
Related to attributes and educational objectives, schools will match you with their financial support programs to bridge your college funding gap. But don’t forget that everything starts with filing a FAFSA.
The federal deadline for filing the FAFSA is June 30 but Florida uses an earlier deadline, May 15. So be wise and use the earliest possible filing date. You can FAFSA application any time after Jan. 1 so if you can, file early.
There are also many scholarships available from Santa Fe College in Gainesville specifically for students looking to go to attend credit-bearing academic classes at Santa Fe College. To learn more, check out this page that highlights these and other options.
Well-Funded Study Fields
High-in-demand fields of study such as nursing and teaching are often supported by many scholarships and grants to increase enrollment in these short-supply areas.
Substantial tuition rebates may attract many students to the schools’ programs and there are also very popular “college-for-service” deals that are providing full-ride funding options for students looking to trade employment for tuition.
Teaching and nursing are not the only high-in-demand fields. When we look at the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), we also see some great options.
These areas are forward-thinking fields that draw considerable levels of grant and scholarship funding in Florida. The most popular college majors for which many career-specific scholarships and grants are available are IT (Information Technology); Computer Science; Engineering; Mathematics; Biology; Communications & Broadcasting; Business Administration; English; Elementary Education; and Nursing, not necessarily in that order.