My son will be a homeschooled senior in the Fall. He dual enrolled at PBSC for his entire junior year. I want to early admit him at PBSC this Fall. I am getting conflicting information on whether of not early admit tuition and books are paid for like when he dual enrolled. I also want to know that if I accept the PEP scholarship of $7900, will this force me to unenroll him from the homeschool program and therefore have to pay to early admit him in the Fall? There is also the question of "will this keep him from getting the Bright Futures scholarship if I accept PEP money. He is working to get his test scores high enough to get the full Bright Futures scholarship so he can transfer to UCF when he graduates.
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Hi! There are some things to consider here. PEP students still have full access to Bright Futures scholarships, as well as dual enrollment. However, with early admission, the student is technically considered a college student rather than a high school student for that year, even though they haven't yet completed high school requirements. For that reason, the student will no longer be eligible for college freshman scholarships the following school year. The nuances of how early admission students would be treated for PEP purposes would be something to be worked out between the particular college and Step Up, as this isn't an issue we've seen very often at all so I'm not sure how they will handle it. Remaining funds in a student's PEP account can be used for qualifying post secondary expenses, but whether the college considers the student as a form of dual enrollment or as an enrolled college student will impact whether the books and tuition are still covered under dual enrollment or or would need to be paid for. It also could impact whether the student can stay on as an active PEP student or considered graduated with access only to remaining funds.
Yes, if you are awarded & accept the PEP scholarship, then you will need to terminate your home education program with the county (send letter of termination along with the annual evaluation). Students who are awarded PEP are considered to be enrolled with the SFO (either Step Up or AAA) for that school year and they are not allowed to be registered with the county or with any type of private school /umbrella. Being registered with StepUp/AAA is a new way for students to meet the Florida attendance requirement and it currently only applies to PEP students. However, when it comes to Dual Enrollment and Bright Futures, PEP students are still being handled in the same way as HomeEd students. The process for your son to do EA in the fall should be the same as it was for your his junior year of DE except that you would checkmark the PEP box on the application and then provide PBSC with proof that he was awarded the PEP scholarship. Step Up is now providing an Award ID document as confirmation of enrollment and scholarship type so this will be a handy document to give to PBSC. PEP students are still exempt from tuition, books, and lab fees. There are usually additional fees that are not covered, like a parking pass, ID card, library fines, etc. Books are typically secured by book voucher. You can read through the current PBSC articulation agreement for specifics but keep in mind it expires at the end of June. They should be releasing a new version, for the 2024-2025 school year, soon: https://www.palmbeachstate.edu/dualenroll/documents/2022-2024-Dual-Articulation-Agreement.pdf
Regarding Bright Futures, PEP students just need to meet the same requirements as HomeEd students (test score and service/work hours). Test scores are sent electronically to BF through the FDOE test repository and you will send his service/work hours documentation to your county education office so that they can electronically verify his hours in the Bright Futures portal. Your son should create his student account with Bright Futures prior to sending documentation to the county. The Bright Futures application opens for seniors on Oct 1st of each year!