The Potential Shortcomings of the Proposed Sunshine Scholarship: Analysis of College Promise

Abstract

College promise programs are a new solution that states and cities in the United States are implementing to increase access to higher education. In the 2020 Florida Legislative Session, a bill was proposed to establish the Sunshine Scholarship Program in the hopes of increasing vocational education in the state. This college promise program would have provided full tuition and fees to Florida residents who are part of a household with less than a $125,000 income in exchange for residing and working in the state after graduation. The characteristics of the program had several shortcomings including only covering tuition and fees, having a “last-dollar” structure, excluding part-time students in the eligibility pool, and having a lenient income criterion. All of these factors would have negatively impacted whether students of low-income backgrounds received the scholarship and actually attended college for vocational education as intended. This paper will review college promise programs in the United States and spotlight the potential limitations of the Sunshine Scholarship Program. Finally, it will provide recommendations to eliminate the limitations of this promise program and promote the potential of student recipients from low-income backgrounds in the state of Florida.