Florida Prepaid enrollment is now open. Here’s what to know about the college saving program

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — If you want to get a head start saving for your kid’s college fund, a prepaid plan may be the way to go.

Enrollment for Florida Prepaid just opened. It allows parents to lock in future college tuition rates in Florida at today’s rates.

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The good news is that the Florida Prepaid tuition program will offer its lowest prices in 10 years.

Action News Jax’s Phil Amato spoke with Shannon Smith, Florida Prepaid College Board Spokesperson, about the changes to this year’s plan.

Amato: “This is the plan’s third price cut in a decade. Prices everywhere seem to be going up. So my question is, why are Florida Prepaid rates going down instead?”

Smith: “The past several years, tuition in Florida has remained flat for our state universities and colleges. When that happens over a period of a few years, that’s now a trend, it allows us to go back and reevaluate not only what we’re gonna set for the current year pricing, but then also what families who bought plans already may be paying that potentially is more than they need to pay into the plan.”

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Amato: “What can people expect to pay per month for a four-year university plan?”

Smith: “The four-year university plan was at about $183 per month and you’re down to under $140 a month.”

Amato: “There’s a recent lawsuit against Florida Prepaid regarding the value of plans and surpluses. Now, can some customers expect money back because of that?”

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Smith: “We cannot unfortunately comment on pending litigation. From the current rollback that we’re talking about today, we do have about 96,000 customers in Florida that are seeing refunds averaging $2,600.”

You can find out if you have a refund by going to the Florida Prepaid website. There, you can also sign up for Florida’s 529 Savings Plan, which gives parents and guardians expanded investment options.

Open enrollment for Florida Prepaid is going on now through April 30.

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