Last year’s seniors have more time to take SAT or ACT for Bright Futures scholarship

Carli Teproff, Devoun Cetoute
·2 min read

Students who graduated in the 2019-2020 school year will have a little more time to complete their SAT or ACT requirement to qualify for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis extended the deadline for students to earn the minimum qualifying score until Dec. 1.

“This will positively impact thousands of students statewide who either need to earn a qualifying score or wanted to take either the SAT or ACT again to earn a higher score,” the Department of Education said in a news release.

According to the department, when school campuses closed in the spring about 32, 000 seniors qualified for the different levels of the scholarship.

“Historical trends show that if given another opportunity to take the SAT or ACT, approximately one-quarter (8,000) of those students would qualify for either a 75% or 100% Bright Futures scholarship,” the department said.

In June, Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran extended the deadline for testing to July 31. His order also relaxed volunteer requirements. Testing was only offered intermittently during the summer.

The College Board began administrating SATs on Aug. 29. SATs will be done once a month from August to December, with registration deadlines ending about a month before the test is given. For the second half of the school year, tests will be given from March to June.

The ACT will be administered again in September over three days — Sept. 12, 13 and 19 — and in October over four days — Oct. 10, 17, 24 and 25.

Although SATs and ACTs will be administered again, testing sites will not be returning to normal. Many testing sites have been closed in Florida, especially in Miami-Dade County, for the SAT and a few centers aren’t administrating the ACT, either.

“There is limited testing capacity in certain areas due to public health restrictions and high demand,” the College Board website read. “While College Board can’t directly control test center capacity and availability, we’re working to ensure as many students as possible are able to test safely.”

While registering for either test, available testing centers will be listed and some have limited seating.

“Governor DeSantis signed this order with the goal of providing compassion and relief to both Florida’s aspiring and current college and university students and their families, many of whom are in tremendous need of support with their postsecondary education during this period of economic recovery,” the DOE said. “Collectively, this created the need to extend the deadline to give more Spring 2020 graduates one last opportunity to earn a Bright Futures Scholarship.”