Free Republic

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has quietly revived an investigation of Florida’s Bright Futures scholarships, a move that could reignite long-simmering complaints about the fairness of the popular program. Since the program’s inception, an outsized share of more than $4 billion in scholarships has gone to white or affluent families, at least some of whom were wealthy enough to afford college without any help. In recent years, state lawmakers — concerned about rising costs of the program — changed the standards to make the scholarships even harder to get, raising the minimum SAT and ACT test...

TAMPA - Xenia Ruiz will tell you she's an American, but on paper, she's not. Born in Mexico City, she was whisked into this country at the age of 8 months, her parents fearful after a rash of kidnappings. English became her first language, Spanish her second. "Every day in school, I would get up and pledge the allegiance to the flag and sing patriotic songs," the high school senior said. "In my heart, in my mind-set, I am an American." A student visa protects her from deportation, but she's ineligible for in-state college tuition, the state's Bright Futures scholarship,...