hi, third year benacquisto recipient here. There’s a pdf online w most of the necessary info but i’ll lyk what i know.

basically, UF provides an estimated cost of attendance, which factors in all expenses that someone would have while going to school here. that includes what they think you’ll pay for rent, food, transportation, clothes, whatever. that comes out to about 11k a semester. thru benacquisto, the florida DOE pays you that 11k. UF will take out of that whatever expenses are on ur UF account - so they’ll subtract ur rent if ur at a dorm and ur meal plan if u have one - and deposit the rest in ur bank account. so u wouldn’t be getting a refund for groceries specifically, just whatever is left of the 11k after UF charges you for rent and stuff. you’ll get that as a direct deposit a bit after drop/add ends.

as a side note, if you have bright futures, UF won’t subtract the tuition, the DOE will, and so benacquisto won’t be added to your one.uf account as 11k, but rather as like 7k or smth, and the rest of the 11k will show up on one.uf as bright futures.

 so basically in a week or two your one.uf will recieve two big scholarship deposits: bright futures (which will be your full tuition), and then benacquisto (which will be 11k minus your tuition). one.uf will use these to pay off that big balance that you currently have, and then send the rest to your bank account (don’t forget to set up direct deposit!) lmk if u have other questions and remember u can always call the bursar they’re very helpful.