No, Florida scholarship doesn't require 20 hours of community service a week | Fact check
The claim: Florida students can get a full-ride scholarship to a state college with a 3.5 GPA, 20 hours of community service a week
An Aug. 17 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims students in one state can go to college for free if they perform lots of community service.
“Reminder to all parents that kids that live IN FLORIDA if they are Freshman this year. If the maintain a 3.5 GPA all 4 years and does 20 hrs of community service a week during the school year (sic)," reads the post. "When they graduate they will receive a FULL RIDE SCHOLARSHIP to and Florida state college of their choice."
It was shared more than 9,000 times in three weeks.
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Our rating: Partly False
Florida’s Bright Futures program offers several scholarships that have varying award amounts and eligibility requirements. The most competitive award covers 100% of tuition and fees and has several requirements, including a 3.5 weighted GPA and a total of 100 volunteer service or paid work hours. None of the awards require 20 hours of community service per week.
Scholarships require volunteer service or paid work hours, but not on a per-week basis
The Bright Futures Scholarship Program, administered by the Florida Department of Education and paid for with proceeds from the Florida Lottery, offers several types of awards for college students.
Requirements include completing 16 college-preparatory courses and meeting standards for GPA, entrance testing and volunteer service.
To receive a Florida Academic Scholars award covering 100% of tuition and fees at a public institution or a comparable amount at a nonpublic institution, students must have a 3.5 GPA, earn a qualifying score at the 89th percentile on college entrance exams and complete 100 hours of volunteer service and/or paid work hours, said Florida Department of Education spokesperson Cassie Palelis.
For a Florida Medallion Scholars award, students must have a 3.0 GPA on the college-preparatory courses, score at the 75th percentile on college entrance exams and complete 75 volunteer service hours or 100 paid work hours, or a combination of 100 total hours, Palelis said.
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The program also offers the Florida Gold Seal Career and Professional Education Scholarship and the Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholarship, which support students enrolled in a career education or certificate program.
There is no per-week service or paid work requirement for any of the scholarships, Palelis said. Students have all four years of high school to accumulate the required number of hours.
Award guidelines echoing Palelis’ statement are also mentioned in the program handbook, as well as the websites for both the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida.
Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Cassie Palelis, Sept. 8, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Florida Department of Education, accessed Sept. 8, 2023-24 Bright Futures Student Handbook Chapter 2: What You Need to Know Now That You Are Eligible
- Florida Bright Futures, accessed Aug. 23, Bright Futures Scholarship Program
- Florida Department of Education, accessed Aug. 23, 2023-24 Bright Futures Student Handbook Chapter 1: Initial Eligibility Requirements
- University of Central Florida, accessed Aug. 23, Florida Bright Futures Scholarship
- University of Florida, accessed Aug. 23, Florida Bright Futures
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