The Florida Bright Futures scholarships are great funding options for Florida residents who want to stay in the state for college or vocational school. All three awards are easily renewable, which means you could significantly cut your college expenses for several years.

You might think there’s some complicated paperwork involved in submitting the Florida Bright Futures scholarship application. As it turns out, much of the process is streamlined and automated - you actually don’t have to jump through too many hoops to apply. The eligibility requirements are a bit of a different story, but once you meet those, the application process should be pretty easy.

In this post, I'll briefly explain about eligibility requirements before moving on to the application timeline. I'll end with tips and strategies you can use to submit the best possible Bright Futures application.

The first step in submitting a successful Bright Futures scholarship application is to make sure you’re actually eligible for the scholarship. This isn’t something you can do at the last minute - meeting eligibility requirements for these awards requires more long-term thinking.

Here are the general requirements that apply to all Bright Futures Scholarships:

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• You must be a Florida resident and US citizen or eligible non-citizen (this is determined by your college).
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• You must complete the Florida Financial Aid Application by 8/31 of the year of your high school graduation.
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• You must earn a standard Florida high school diploma or its equivalent from a Florida public high school or a registered Florida Department of Education private school.
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• You can’t have been convicted of (or pleaded no contest to) a felony charge.
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• You must be accepted by and enroll in a degree or certificate program at an eligible Florida public or independent postsecondary institution (postsecondary = college, vocational, or professional program).
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• You must be enrolled for at least 6 (non-remedial) credit hours per term.
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There are different minimum GPA, ACT/SAT, and service hour requirements for the three Bright Futures scholarships. The most competitive scholarship is the Florida Academic Scholars Program (FAS), followed by the Florida Medallion Scholars (FMS), and then the Gold Seal Vocational Scholars (GSV).

This chart outlines some of the most important requirements for the FAS and FMS programs:

FMS - Homeschooled students without official transcripts

*The SAT minimums are for the Critical Reading and Math sections only (on the pre-March 2016 SAT) or for your whole new SAT score (if you took the SAT March 2016 or later), both have a maximum score of 1600. Also, you don't have to take both the SAT and ACT - one will do!

The GSV program is a bit different when it comes to eligibility requirements. The minimum GPA required to qualify for the GSV program is 3.0, weighted, in non-elective courses. The service hours minimum requirement is 30.

GSV test score requirements are a bit more detailed (note that you only have to take one of the following exams, but you can't mix and match subsections from different tests):

There's some more fine print when it comes to eligibility requirements for the Florida Bright Futures scholarships. To get more detailed information on meeting all of these requirements, check out our Bright Futures guide.

<em>The steps to completing this application will probably be easier to conquer than the ones on this staircase.</em>

Much of this process is automated - you won’t have to do much extra work outside of submitting the Florida Financial Aid Application and keeping an eye on your app to make sure everything is processed correctly.

If all of your eligibility requirements check out, you can start the application as early as December 1.

More good news: many schools will submit your transcripts automatically for consideration. Still, it's a good idea to check in with your guidance counselor about whether you need to take any additional steps.

There are a bunch of things you can (and should) manage once you get your Bright Futures account information:

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• Monitor your reported service hours.
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• Update your postsecondary institution: once you’ve been accepted to/enrolled at a FL college or vocational school, you would make a note of this in your account.
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• Update any demographic information.
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• View your eligibility determination: check your account once everything’s been submitted to see if you’re eligible for the scholarship.
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There are two Bright Futures timelines to be aware of if you're ready to start the application process: Early Evaluation and Final Evaluation.

<em>If you can plan for the Early Evaluation timeline, you could potentially learn about Bright Futures eligibility as early as March.</em>

If your transcripts are submitted for early evaluation (based on academic progress in the middle of the last year of high school and test scores for tests taken by January 31), you’ll get an eligibility notification posted to your online account. These postings may begin in March, according to the Florida Department of Education.

All students whose final transcripts are submitted following the last high school term will get an eligibility notification posted to their online account. These postings may begin in July, again according to the Florida Department of Education.

Now that you know a little bit more about eligibility requirements and the application process, you can focus on making your Bright Futures application the best it can be.

The good news: aside from making sure you meet all eligibility requirements, there isn’t much you have to do to make your application “stand out.” If you meet the requirements for the FAS, FMS, or GSV scholarship, you’ll receive the scholarship - it’s as simple as that.

The bad news: the eligibility requirements are strict. There’s no gray area - you either qualify because you meet all requirements, or you don’t (no matter how close you are) and don’t get a scholarship. There are some eligibility loopholes and exceptions for out-of-state, homeschooled, and GED students - learn more about them in our requirements guide.

The best Bright Futures success strategy will focus on meeting eligibility requirements as early in your high school career as possible. The following tips will help you do that, starting right now.

All Bright Futures scholarships require students to complete a certain set of high school courses. You’re likely to meet all coursework requirements if you went to high school in Florida. If you suspect there may be a problem, schedule a meeting with your guidance counselor.

It's difficult to significantly raise your GPA in a short period of time. Focus on your grades by picking a realistic GPA minimum starting your freshman year. If you're struggling to meet your goal, here are some ways to bring up that GPA:

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• Take classes that are appropriate for your skill level. If you're unsure about which classes are most appropriate, meet with your guidance counselor to discuss.
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• See teachers for extra help in weak subject areas.
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• Ask about extra credit assignments if possible.
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• Check out our guide on raising your GPA.
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The earlier you start reporting your community service hours, the fewer hours per week you’ll need to volunteer. If you start chipping away at this requirement as a senior, you'll have to set aside 2-3 hours a week for community service; if you start as a freshman; however, you'll only need to volunteer 1-1.5 hours every two weeks.

You can't earn any money for your community service hours, but you can kill two birds with one stone and look for positions where you can get interesting professional experience. Start by asking friends and family for suggestions - make sure you're working with a legitimate agency who will reliably track your hours.

Finally, set a schedule. Go at the same time every week or every two weeks so you don't fall behind on completing your hours. If you need some help brainstorming, check out our guide to the best places to do community service.

The Florida Bright Futures scholarships aren't your only options for paying for college. Read more about top scholarship programs for high school juniors and high school seniors.

Although it's less exciting than applying for scholarship programs, you can maximize the amount of money you'll get for college by knowing your way around financial aid. Learn about the financial aid application process and specific aid programs, like the Pell Grant and Perkins loan.

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Francesca graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and scored in the 99th percentile on the SATs. She's worked with many students on SAT prep and college counseling, and loves helping students capitalize on their strengths.