FSU Prof Nabs Federal Grant to Study Bright Futures Scholarship

The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences has awarded Shouping Hu, a higher education professor at FSU's College of Education, a $780,000, three-year grant to study Florida's Bright Futures scholarship program.

The study, to be titled "State Merit Aid Program and Student College Choice and Success: Evaluating the Efficacy of Florida's Bright Futures Program," will concentrate on the effectiveness of the 14 year-old program that awards scholarships to high school students who attain "academic merit" by meeting certain grade-point average and test-score goals.

"The grant cannot come at a better time. As a scholar who has longstanding interest in college access and student success in higher education, this grant will allow me to continue to do cutting-edge research in that direction and examine whether and how a high-profile state program can make a difference in student postsecondary educational opportunities," Hu said.

Read more on this now in Nancy Smith's Sunshine State News Friday column.