FAU Student Government and the Florida Student Association (FSA), a group of Florida universities’ student body presidents and their staff, recently passed a bill in the Florida House of Representatives, which could allocate a portion of $340,000 to FAU’s “​Educate Tomorrow​,” a program dedicated to supporting foster and homeless students.

The bill, passed in January, requests that $340,000 be redistributed from the Florida House General Revenue Fund to the FSA Food and Housing Insecurity initiative, but it is unclear how much funding FAU will receive. The funding would also be distributed across all 12 Florida public universities.

Educate Tomorrow offers success coaching, tutoring, community involvement, helps provide basic household items to students who age out of foster care and move into residence halls, the UP previously reported.

The program currently has 162 students on a Department of Children and Families (DCF) or homeless waiver, according to an SG press release.

In November, SG sponsored a trip of 15 students to take to the Florida Capitol to advocate for initiatives like the Educate Tomorrow bill. Among the students’ concerns were textbook affordability, mental health resources and victim advocacy.

“In order to ensure students are successful within our universities, students need to know they have the most basic necessities of life covered,” student body President Kevin Buchanan said. “A student’s focus should be on excelling in their studies, not where they are going to sleep or get their next meal.”

On Jan. 22, ​the bill​ passed with unanimous consent in the Higher Education Appropriations Committee and is now awaiting a vote in the Appropriations Committee. If passed, it will take effect on July 1.

Israel Fontoura is the managing editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email him at [email protected]