Students should lose scholarship opportunities if their parents are successful. Sure, some of those students deserve the money, but there are so many more who need it. Everyone knows need trumps ability.
So what if the brightest among us choose to continue their education past an undergraduate degree? The debt that they incurred during their first four years should be embraced as a social necessity to support their less gifted brothers. Those who are less gifted should be entitled to the same opportunities as the cream of the crop, without thinking of any return on investment. Everyone knows it is righteous to provide for the unearned. Florida Bright Futures must either become solely need-based or ability-based. There is no middle ground for it to survive upon. If you believe that a family with an income of $100,000 can support children through just the first four years of a college education without taking on any major debt, I suggest you try to find such a household.
Shall we turn another state program into a competition of who can claim the least, or into a competition of who can achieve the most? And by most I do not mean a 970 SAT and a 3.0 GPA. Students cannot help their parents' economic status, but they can help their own academic success.
