While I wholeheartedly agree that the "woe is me" attitude in response to the Bright Futures cutback is ridiculous and just straight-up annoying, a need-based system is not the answer.
Sure, lots of students of wealthy families are receiving aid through Bright Futures instead of their parents paying their tuition, but just because a family's income is $100,000 does not mean the student ever sees any of that. My parents make close to that and yet I'm working two jobs to pay my own rent because I've been financially independent since the age of sixteen. I don't qualify for any type of need-based aid because my parents make enough money to pay my tuition - too bad they're not the ones paying it. Financial need is not always the best way to determine who deserves a scholarship.
Bright Futures is a merit-based scholarship. It was created to reward students for their academic achievements. It is a prize, a privilege, not a right. Students are supposed to earn this scholarship, not have it handed to them. I think the program should maintain its goal of keeping the brightest students in Florida by increasing the standards for the scholarship. Let's face it: A 970 on the SAT and a weighted 3.0 are not that hard to come by. Are those students really the brightest? Up the ante and reward fewer students (the brightest ones who have actually earned it) to keep the program merit-based, not need-based.
