Monthly Archives: March 2021

Advice about course selection and careers that Florida’s public high school students are getting varies tremendously from district to district. That affects high school graduates’ career and economic prospects.

Posted on March 27, 2021 by Paul Cottle

Senator Baxley’s Senate Bill 86, which would have changed Florida’s Bright Futures scholarship program dramatically, has sparked discussion about the counseling that the state’s high school students receive about course selection and careers. The original version of the bill would … Continue reading →

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The slimmed down Senate Bill 86 requires career counseling for first-year college students. College is too late – students and parents need that counseling experience years before that.

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Paul Cottle

After a barrage of complaints from parents, students and opinion page editors and writers, Senator Baxley this week removed his proposal to reduce Bright Futures scholarship benefits for students who pursue careers that do not “lead directly to employment” from … Continue reading →

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Which college majors are least worthy of Bright Futures support? A completely objective answer to that question is probably not what Florida’s policy-makers have in mind.

Posted on March 21, 2021 by Paul Cottle

Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that Senator Baxley is right – some college majors are not worthy of support by the Bright Futures scholarship program. Is there a completely objective way of choosing such majors without the … Continue reading →

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How much do early and mid-career professionals in your college major make? Data from the New York Fed.

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Paul Cottle

From the same site that provided the underemployment rates I posted yesterday, the New York Fed provides early and mid-career median wages for college majors. I sorted from high to low and show them below.

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Should Florida decide that certain college majors aren’t worthy of the full four years of Bright Futures support? Here is one consistent way it could be done – but it might make some of the idea’s advocates in the Legislature unhappy.

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Paul Cottle

The Florida Senate is presently considering a proposal to reduce Bright Futures scholarship awards from four years to two for students in majors that the Board of Governors decides do not “lead directly to employment”. One hopes that if this … Continue reading →

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Even with Tuesday’s changes, the provision about AP, IB, AICE and dual enrollment in Senate Bill 86 is a tax on excellence.

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Paul Cottle

For years, Florida policy-makers have bragged about the large number of students in the state’s public high schools who earn college credit through Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) and dual enrollment (DE) opportunities. … Continue reading →

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Florida’s Senate Bill 86: “Delete-all” amendment to be considered by Senate Education Committee would still penalize college students majoring in engineering, physical sciences and computer science for passing the AP Physics 1 exam in high school.

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Paul Cottle

The language of Senate Bill 86, which would implement a broad overhaul of Florida’s Bright Futures scholarship program, will be substantially changed during tomorrow’s meeting of the Senate Education Committee. However, a provision on reducing Bright Futures awards to students … Continue reading →

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If the leaders of the Florida Legislature really want to improve career opportunities for the state’s young people, they will expand programs like the Calculus Project. Senate Bill 86 will not make things better – and it might make things worse.

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Paul Cottle

Last Monday evening, I had a Zoom moment (well, actually a Microsoft Teams moment) that will stay with me for a long time, if not forever. For the last two weeks, I have been speaking to Orange County parents whose … Continue reading →

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Want more students to enter fields that lead directly to employment like engineering, physics, computer science and math? Here are some ways to make that happen.

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Paul Cottle

For fields that lead directly to employment, you can’t beat engineering, computer science, physics and math. Those fields dominate the top 25 college majors ranked by salary, according to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce report “The … Continue reading →

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Some of the commentary on Florida’s Senate Bill 86 has pointed out that Black and Hispanic students are underrepresented in science and engineering fields. Here are some numbers.

Posted on March 4, 2021 by Paul Cottle

Florida’s Senate Bill 86 is a proposal to cut Bright Futures funding in part by limiting scholarship aid to students whose majors are not on a list of majors that “lead directly to employment”, in the words of the bill … Continue reading →

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