Most Bright Futures coverage assumes you're headed to a four-year university with a strong GPA and a great SAT score. But Florida built two of its Bright Futures awards specifically for students going into the trades and technical careers: welding, automotive, HVAC, health science, IT, and more. And one of them doesn't require a GPA or a test score at all.
If you're a career-and-technical-education (CTE) student, or the parent of one, this is the part of Bright Futures almost nobody explains. Here's how it works.
Two awards built for career and technical education
Florida's Gold Seal scholarships come in two flavors, and they're genuinely different programs, so don't mix them up:
- Gold Seal Vocational Scholars (GSV): earned through CTE coursework and grades, plus a test score.
- Gold Seal CAPE Scholars (GSC): earned through industry certifications, with no GPA or test-score requirement.
Both are designed to fund the kind of programs offered at Florida technical colleges and career centers, not just universities. Both are authorized in Florida Statute 1009.536.
Gold Seal Vocational Scholars (GSV)
GSV is the grades-and-coursework path into a technical career. According to the state's eligibility requirements, you'll generally need:
- At least three full CTE credits in high school (welding, automotive, and other CTE program sequences count).
- A minimum 3.0 weighted GPA in your non-elective courses.
- A minimum 3.5 unweighted GPA in those CTE credits specifically.
- A qualifying ACT, SAT, or PERT score.
On that last point: for the 2025-26 cycle, Florida's Bright Futures Student Handbook sets the minimums at ACT Reading 19 / English 17 / Math 19; SAT (taken March 2024 or later) 490 EBRW / 480 Math; or PERT 106 Reading / 103 Writing / 114 Math (PERT can only be used for the GSV award). You have to qualify on a single exam type, so you can't mix sub-scores across the ACT, SAT, and PERT. These figures can shift with each legislative session, so confirm the current year's numbers when you apply.
Gold Seal CAPE Scholars (GSC): the no-GPA, no-test path
This is the one that surprises people. The Gold Seal CAPE award has no GPA requirement and no test-score requirement. Instead, it's built entirely on industry certifications.
To qualify, you earn at least five postsecondary credit hours through CAPE (Career and Professional Education) industry certifications that articulate for college credit. In plain terms: you pass the industry exams for your trade, those certifications convert into postsecondary credit, and that's your ticket to the scholarship, no SAT required.
For a student who's hands-on, tests poorly on standardized exams, or simply isn't aiming for a traditional academic track, GSC is one of the most overlooked opportunities in the entire Bright Futures program.
How welding (and other trades) fit in
Welding is a clear example of how this works. The American Welding Society's AWS Certified Welder certifications appear on Florida's CAPE Industry Certification Funding List, the official list that determines which certifications earn the postsecondary credit GSC is based on.
So a welding student has two possible routes:
- GSV route: count your welding coursework toward the three required high-school CTE credits.
- GSC route: earn a qualifying welding industry certification that articulates for college credit.
The CAPE funding list is updated each year and covers many trades beyond welding, so check the current list to confirm your specific program or certification qualifies before you count on it.
Where the money goes, and what it can't pay for
Gold Seal awards are meant for technical and career programs, and the rules reflect that. Per OSFA, these awards may be used at institutions offering an applied technology diploma, a technical degree (Associate in Applied Science or Associate in Science), or a career certificate program, the kinds of programs you'd find at a Florida technical college or career center. They generally cannot be applied to an Associate in Arts, and a GSV award cannot be used toward a bachelor's degree at all. A GSC scholar, however, can continue toward an eligible bachelor's after completing a qualifying associate degree.
There's also a key difference in how you get paid. The Academic and Medallion awards cover a percentage of your tuition and fees, but the Gold Seal awards pay a fixed amount per credit hour, set each year in the state budget. The exact rate depends on your program type and whether your school runs on semester, quarter, or clock hours, so check the current numbers in the official Bright Futures award-amounts handbook before you count on a specific figure.
You still need your service or work hours
One thing GSV and GSC share with every other Bright Futures award: the service-hour requirement. For the Gold Seal awards that's 30 volunteer service hours, 100 paid work hours, or a combination totaling 100 hours. And remember, that volunteer figure rises to 75 hours for students who entered grade 9 in 2024-25 and later.
That means trade-track students have the same hours to log and verify as everyone else, and the same paperwork standards to meet. Keeping those hours organized and properly signed off, whether they're volunteer hours or paid work from a shop or apprenticeship, is exactly what BrightLog is for.
The bottom line: Bright Futures isn't only for the university crowd. If you're building a skilled trade, there's very likely a Gold Seal award with your name on it.
Figures reflect the 2025-26 award cycle and are subject to change with each legislative session. Confirm current requirements on floridabrightfutures.gov and the official OSFA fact sheets.