Florida Scholarship Cuts More Bad News For College Freshmen

Florida scholarship cuts to a popular program have left college freshmen burdened even more by the weight of student loan debt. In a new editorial, the Gainesville website noted that the Bright Futures program used to aid one in three students.

That number has now fallen to one in eight.

The more stringent standards, notes the unnamed op-ed writer, mean that college freshmen — in particular, minorities — will be hit the hardest.

“Nearly two-thirds of black students and half of Hispanic students who met the criteria for the scholarships in 2012 didn’t quality in 2013,” according to the author. “Those universities say they will need an additional $45 million next year for financial aid to help low-income students affected by the cuts.”

Not only is this bad news for students, but it’s also bad news for those who supported lottery-funded educational benefits. The way this was originally pitched to Florida voters has not at all turned out to be the reality.

While Florida’s state lottery was to have paid more than enough to avoid Florida scholarship cuts, that has now proven to be unsustainable.

One commenter pointed out an “obvious” solution, but it’s not going to be very sustainable either.

“Maybe people should get a job and work their way through college? I did and I know it can be done. At some point, government handouts have to stop. We are broke and heavily in debt.”

The main problems with this statement — a) the commenter is of an older generation that didn’t have to pay as much to go to school and b) college tuition rates are skyrocketing while the ability to get a job that will pay for them is stagnant.

In other words, student loans are a heavier burden than years past, and society is not creating enough jobs to effectively combat that.

In fact, the Millennial generation are facing a daunting decrease in home ownership in no small part due to student loans. Furthermore, according to a recent report here at The Inquisitr, it’s not necessarily the dollar amount of student loans that have contributed to this trend, but rather the impact of needing to pay off student loans in a slow economic market, as was just mentioned.

With the average person making less money (or being unemployed), student loans are sticking around longer. The Millennials have found themselves more reliant on student loans, and have experienced rising education costs, a prolonged weak economy, and higher unemployment.

That isn’t something you work your way out of at $7.25 per hour.

Do you think Florida scholarship cuts and others like them are preventable?