At its height in 2008, the program was criticized for subsidizing the education of students from wealthy families using lottery proceeds collected largely from lower-income individuals.

[4] UF Chief Financial Officer Matt Fajack criticized the program for keeping state university tuition artificially low, since any tuition raise would mean that the state would have to spend more money to cover scholarships under the program.

[3] The Florida Legislature enacted cuts to Bright Futures funding in 2011 by increasing the minimum SAT score required to qualify for the program.

[2] In 2014, the United States Department of Education launched an investigation of the Bright Futures program due to allegations of racial bias against black and Latino students, focusing particularly on its effects on students from Miami–Dade County and at Florida International University.

The FAS and FMS levels returned to their previous values, with the FAS increasing to cover 100% of tuition and fees plus a new $300 per semester book stipend and the FMS increasing to cover 75% of tuition and fees.

Additionally, the Bright Futures program gives an Academic Top Scholar (ATS) award to the student with the highest academic rank in each of Florida's 67 counties, based on multiplying the student's weighted GPA and ACT/SAT score.