ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a stop in Orlando on Monday to discuss the accomplishments of Florida’s Prepaid college program.
He says there are opportunities to claim benefits and he’s issuing a message for parents.
“This is a way for you to prepay for your child’s future education at any of our state colleges or state universities. You can lock in today’s tuition costs at today’s prices,” said DeSantis.
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During a visit to Lawton Chiles Elementary, DeSantis promoted Florida as having the lowest tuition in the country and Florida Prepaid as the largest program of its kind. He says the state has been able to lower prices by $2.6 billion in the last four years. As part of that, he says the board has authorized $850 million in refunds to Florida families.
However, the governor also says $130 million is still waiting to be claimed and is urging parents to log on to their accounts and take advantage of any available refunds.
The governor also highlighted Florida’s Prepaid program’s flexibility allowing funds to be used for out-of-state education, trade schools, or transferred to siblings.
The news conference comes after the Florida Prepaid announced a drop in cost earlier this year. The state now is offering some additional encouragement for signing up.
“I don’t think there’s any program in the country that matches this,” DeSantis said. “There’s certainly no program that’s cut costs by $2.6 billion and is offering $850 million in refunds.”
Anyone who signs up for the program right now will also receive a $50 gift card. The incentive is available until Oct. 28.
On Friday, the governor hosted the Lake Mary All-Stars in Tallahassee. During Monday’s news conference, the governor announced that through Florida’s Prepaid college plan, every member of the Lake Mary Little League World Series team was awarded a prepaid scholarship for two years at any Florida university.
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