Florida parents are prepaying community college tuition to lock in lower prices, reports the Orlando Sentinel. As tuition and fees soar at state universities, the Florida Prepaid College Program is encouraging moderate-income parents to look at low-cost community college plans.
Most of Florida’s 28 community colleges grant bachelor’s degrees, notes Kristin Lock, a spokesman for the prepayment plan. Many not call themselves “state colleges.”
For parents of newborns, the price of a four-year university plan can be a shock. The cost of enrolling a newborn rose again several weeks ago to $350.35 a month for more than 18 years.
Victoria Beretervide of Orlando, who has a 3-month-old son, said the university plan is out of the question.
“That’s not affordable — definitely not affordable,” said the 23-year-old cosmetologist, who was glad to learn Friday that other prepaid options are available.
Prepaying for four years at a community college for a newborn costs $118.32 a month for 223 months.
Sales for the two-year community-college plan nearly doubled in 2010-11. That year, the Prepaid Program added a plan that covers four years of tuition and fees at a community college instead of two. “Last school year, almost as many people purchased four years at a community college as they did four years at a university,” reports the Sentinel. Also popular is the “2+2″ plan, which offers two years at a community college and then two years at a public university.
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