This Thursday, February 1st, will mark the first day of open enrollment for Florida families to sign up for the Florida Prepaid College Open Enrollment. This week, the annual window opens up for Florida families to take advantage of the state-backed college savings program.
The Florida Prepaid College Open Enrollment begins with the lowest prices in 10 Years, resulting in over $1.3 Billion in price reductions and refunds for 280k children.
This season marks the 35th of the program, making it one of the longest-running and most successful in the country. To celebrate its success, and thanks to consecutive years of lower-than-anticipated college tuition and fee rates, Florida Prepaid is doing a significant rollback in pricing.
Notably, more than 280,000 current customers with Plans purchased since 2008 will receive $1.3 billion in price reductions totaling $1.3 billion; nearly 100,000 customers will receive over $330 million in refunds. The rollback also means that current plan prices are at the lowest rates in 10 years, starting at just $34/month for a newborn.
In the Tallahassee area, 6,324 student plans will see reductions worth $27.7 million. In addition, 3,209 students will get a total of $8.2 million in refunds on their existing plans.
“While many things have increased in pricing, saving for college in Florida has decreased,” said the Florida Prepaid College Board. The Board also attributes the price reductions from the successive years of lower-than-anticipated tuition and fee increases for Florida colleges and state universities.
Highlighting the lower cost for families, the popular 4-Year University Plan now starts at less than $135/month, and the 2-Year College Plan is just $39/month.
In addition, current customers with plans purchased since 2008 that have not yet started utilizing benefits, will also have a lower plan price. Not only will the 280,000 existing customers will have plan prices lowered by more than $1.3 billion but nearly half of these customers now have their plan paid in full and will receive refunds totaling more than $350 million. The average refund per customer is $2,600.
Any customers who have already submitted their Prepaid Plan application between May 1, 2023, and January 31, 2024, will receive notice of their new Prepaid Plan price in February.
“Every day we strive to support Florida families by making college savings simple and affordable,” said Board Chairman John D. Rood. “This price reduction reflects our commitment to that goal. We thank Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature for their continued efforts to make a college education attainable for Florida students during these past few years of economic uncertainty and heightened inflation.”
This year’s Open Enrollment period is February 1 – April 30, 2024.
