Bright Futures Scholarships require community service hours as follows:

• Florida Academic Scholarship - 100 hours
• Florida Medallion Scholarship - 75 hours
• Gold Seal Vocational Scholarship - 30 hours
• Gold Seal CAPE Scholarship - 30 hours

Community service hours should be done in non-profit entities, such as:

• Action Groups like Breast Cancer Awareness, Autism, etc.
• Animal Shelters
• Habitat for Humanity
• Homeless Shelters
• Hospitals
• Libraries
• Meals on Wheels
• Research Labs
• Schools (tutoring, helping in classrooms on a regular basis, cleaning, etc)
• Soup Kitchens
• Training Seeing Eye Dogs
• Volunteering at Retirement Homes

Many clubs at the high school level have a community service component. Students are highly encouraged to participate in their high school organizations and actively participate in extracurricular activities.

The Florida Governor signed HB 461 on June 27, 2022, which amends the Bright Futures Scholarships to allow students to count paid work for service hours beginning in the 2022-2023 school year.

Bright Futures Scholarships require community service hours as follows:

• Florida Academic Scholarship - 100 hours
• Florida Medallion Scholarship - 100 hours
• Gold Seal Vocational Scholarship - 100 hours
• Gold Seal CAPE Scholarship - 100 hours

Hours That Are Not Acceptable:

• • • Court mandated community/volunteer service.
    • An activity where there is no leader or responsible adult on site to evaluate and confirm student performance.
    • Donations (ex. blood, Locks of Love, canned food)

How to document paid work hours:

• • • Paid work hours must be submitted on the proper district form and submitted to the school counseling office at your school.
    • A copy of a pay stub may be submitted in lieu of a signature and attached to the paid work hours' documentation form.

“Bright Futures has provided a pathway to success for nearly one million students,” said Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr. “With today’s changes to Bright Futures eligibility requirements, no student will be forced to choose between supporting their family and meeting the volunteer hours necessary to earn a scholarship. I’m proud to join Governor DeSantis today as we expand access to postsecondary education for all students.”