Blog disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Florida Prepaid College Board, through my role as a Believer Blogger. All thoughts are my own.
As a personal finance writer, I have to write about student loans quite a bit for some of my content marketing clients.
Every time I have to write something about these loans, I end up getting fired up about how much debt people are in over getting an education. Seriously, you can ask my roommate. You can also ask my Facebook friends who inevitably end up reading an angry social media post from me about the student loan situation in the U.S.
Even though many of my clients are trying to educate them to make informed decisions about loans, it’s still frustrating to know that people are graduating with tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
In addition to getting fired up, I also become incredibly grateful. You see, I didn’t need to take out student loans to pay for college. Neither did my brother. Part of the reason for that is because my parents enrolled in Florida Prepaid College when my brother and I were babies.
That’s why when they asked me to help spread the word about their program, I couldn’t resist. If it wasn’t for them, my brother and I may have been part of the millions of students who graduate each year with an average of $29,000 in student loan debt.
What is Florida Prepaid College?
Florida Prepaid College is the largest and longest running prepaid tuition program in the country. At this time, over 300,000 students have attended college using Florida Prepaid, including my brother and many of my friends.
Parents can choose from five different types of accounts to save for their child’s college education:
- 2-Year Florida College Plan – ($55.42/month or $8.767.54 lump-sum payment for a newborn)
- 4-Year Florida College Plan – ($119.61/month or $18,924.02 lump-sum payment for a newborn)
- 2+2 Florida Plan – ($149.45/month or $23,644.14 lump-sum payment for a newborn)
- 1-Year Florida University Plan – ($46.41/month or $7,373.92 lump-sum payment for a newborn)
- 4-Year Florida University Plan – ($186.28/month or $29,472.26 lump-sum payment for a newborn)
The best part is these prices are locked in because plan prices never go up. The plans cover most of the costs associated with attending college including tuition fees, matriculation fees, student aid fees, health fees and more.
As long as the child is between the ages of 0 and the 11th grade and their parent/guardian has been a resident of the State of Florida for at least 12 months, they are eligible.
The program is so good that even personal finance expert (and one of my colleagues) Laura Ingram wrote about it in her latest book, “The Complete Guide to Paying for College,” as an excellent example of how parents can pay for their children to get an education.
How do you sign up?
Parents and guardians can open accounts for their children during Open Enrollment. This usually happens between October and February of each year.
This year’s Open Enrollment starts October 15th, 2017 through February 28, 2018. All you have to do is fill out a simple online application and choose your plan.
Here are the exact steps you need to follow:
- Use this link. Choose your desired program.
- Apply.
Don’t Delay
If your child is eligible, you definitely don’t want to miss out in this. This is one of the best programs in the entire country, so make sure to take advantage.
