Open Enrollment Ending: Sign Up for FL College Savings Plans
(Posted January 25, 2012 06:45 am)
By Les Coleman
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Next week, on January 31st, is the deadline to enroll in Florida's Prepaid College Program savings plans. These plans allow parents to lock in today's tuition rates years in advance of their children going off to college and start saving for it.
Link:
Florida Prepaid College Plans
Florida's plan is one of seven nationwide that is
backed by state dollars. Its chief executive officer,
Duane Ottenstroer, says there's a plan for everyone.
"We also have an investment savings plan, which is a
normal '529' plan, and that's open to people outside of
Florida."
Since it began in 1988, about $1.3 million students'
families have enrolled in the Florida program, making it
the nation's largest pre-paid tuition savings plan.
However, Ottenstroer says, only one in 10 Florida
children is enrolled. Critics of this type of savings
plan say it does not guarantee admission to a Florida
school - or the quality of those schools.
The program competes with other tax-deferred college
savings plans, Ottenstroer says, but those plans are
based on investments that often face upheavals in the
stock market. He says the Florida Pre-Paid College
Program is a safer bet.
"Tuition cost today makes the program just extremely
important to the normal family. We still have programs
that, for as little as $100 a month, will pay a newborn
- over 18 years - the tuition at any one of Florida
state colleges."
Parents who want to sign up, he says, have only until
Jan. 31 to get their applications in.