{"id":185433,"date":"2026-03-10T10:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T10:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/185433\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T10:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T10:19:07","slug":"usf-lac-scholarship-recipients-to-retain-funding-through-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/185433\/","title":{"rendered":"USF LAC scholarship recipients to retain funding through graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>USF\u2019s Latin American and Caribbean Scholarship, which awards $500 per semester and a waiver for in-state tuition to eligible students, was discontinued in fall 2025. ORACLE GRAPHIC\/LUIZA GARCIA<\/p>\n

USF has confirmed that students who receive the Latin American and Caribbean Scholarship<\/a> will retain it through graduation, provided they maintain the eligibility requirements.<\/p>\n

The Florida Legislature established the LAC scholarship<\/a> in 1997<\/a> to support students from 50 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean \u2014 such as Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n

The LAC awards students $500 per semester and a waiver allowing them to pay in-state tuition rates, according to Florida Board of Governors documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

USF stopped awarding the LAC scholarship at the beginning of fall 2025 \u2014 just a couple of months before the BOG discontinued<\/a> the program in state universities.<\/p>\n

USF\u2019s Office of the Registrar emailed LAC recipients in September, stating they would retain their scholarships for the fall \u2014 but didn\u2019t confirm whether they would maintain them in subsequent semesters.<\/p>\n

The lack of clarity<\/a> in this email and BOG\u2019s discontinuation of the scholarship made some USF students worry about the potential loss of their financial aid.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 3, USF\u2019s Office of the Registrar confirmed students will retain the LAC scholarship through graduation, provided they maintain eligibility requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eligibility requirements include having received the scholarship before the BOG\u2019s Nov. 6 decision, being enrolled as a full-time student each term and maintaining a minimum of a 3.0 GPA, according to USF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The email said students who lose eligibility will not have the option to appeal the waiver or to reinstate the scholarship.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

USF students with the scholarship said the program\u2019s closure could discourage students from Latin America and the Caribbean from applying to Florida universities \u2014 including USF.<\/p>\n

Related: USF students fear loss of Latin American and Caribbean Scholarship after statewide repeal<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Laura Carvalho Schneider, a freshman information technology major from Brazil, said the LAC scholarship significantly influenced her decision to attend USF.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made tuition much more affordable compared to other universities,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cIt was a major factor in my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider said she first learned about the possibility of the LAC scholarship being discontinued last March, shortly after she was accepted to USF.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was honestly surprised,\u201d she said. \u201cThe scholarship had existed for many years and has been one of the main reasons Latino students choose Florida universities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider said she felt uncertain after receiving the initial email on the LAC\u2019s shutdown, because she did not know whether the scholarship requirements would change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t even started college yet, and there was very little information available,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a moment of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although she felt relieved after the Feb. 3 email clarification, Schneider said she still worries that future changes could happen unexpectedly and that some students have lost the scholarship even after maintaining eligibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the discontinuation was so sudden, I worry that future changes could also happen unexpectedly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She added that the scholarship\u2019s end could affect USF\u2019s ability to attract international students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is a real loss,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cUSF may lose exceptional students because many of the students who stand out are Latino and were drawn to USF because of this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: USF, Florida universities to pause hiring H-1B faculty until 2027<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another student, a junior double-majoring in computer science and mathematics, is from Trinidad and Tobago and said they also decided to attend USF upon receiving the LAC scholarship.<\/p>\n

The student requested to remain anonymous because they were concerned public comments could affect their immigration or visa status.<\/p>\n

The student said they learned about the LAC scholarship through their USF offer letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got my USF offer and saw the scholarship in the letter, I was like, \u2018Yeah, I have to go here,\u2019\u201d the student said. \u201cMoney was pretty tight at the time, and I\u2019m planning to get a Ph.D., so I didn\u2019t want to go into debt for my first degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without the tuition waiver, the student said they would not be able to afford their approximately $17,000 cost of attendance<\/a> and living expenses per semester.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people dream of coming to the U.S., but even if you\u2019re middle class in your home country, $17,000 is a lot of money,\u201d the student said. \u201cI probably wouldn\u2019t still be in the U.S. if I lost [the scholarship].\u201d<\/p>\n

The student said the BOG\u2019s decision left students uncertain about their futures \u2014 adding that USF\u2019s Feb. 3 email offered some relief, but made the eligibility requirements feel stricter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so relieved,\u201d the student said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh my gosh, I don\u2019t have to drop out. I don\u2019t have to drop my major.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the student said they are worried that prospective students from Latin America and the Caribbean may be discouraged from attending USF because of the end of the scholarship.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting some of that funding toward getting some of the best and brightest students in the world is only going to help,\u201d the student said. \u201cIt\u2019s never going to hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USF\u2019s Latin American and Caribbean Scholarship, which awards $500 per semester and a waiver for in-state tuition to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-185433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-tampa","9":"tag-tampa-headlines","10":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}