File under Surprising but Welcome News

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Florida Prepaid college prices drop; thousands to get rebates

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/schools/fl-ne-florida-prepaid-refunds-price-drops-20200113-xxtsk5w3sbggjhodmvnzcygiai-story.html

The Florida Prepaid College Board has lowered plan prices by $1.3 billion, benefiting 224,000 families and resulting in refunds of more than $500 million.

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Refunds will vary individually depending on when families bought their plan, with the average refund being $4,700, Prepaid officials say. About 33,000 students will be getting refunds or lower monthly payments in Broward County, 38,000 in Miami-Dade and 24,000 in Palm Beach County, officials said.

The refunds are possible because the actual cost of tuition in Florida has risen at a slower rate than expected when the rates were set. Former Gov. Rick Scott made it a priority to keep tuition low after he was elected in 2010, and costs have been frozen or increased slightly most years since then.

Essentially, the state 529 Plan for prepaying tuition set prices assuming rapidly rising costs and now they are in a position to refund because they did not.

Personally, I think this is great and wish it would be a national story.

However, it kind of sucks for me. I bought one of these plans in early 2000's so it is too old for any refund. Now it is time for my daughter to use it so it isn't worth as much as I thought it would be. If she stays in Florida, I haven't lost anything. But she wants to go out of state. That is where it is kind of a bummer because she would get the value of the plan to use elsewhere. Only it has limited value compared to how much other States have risen in cost. Oh well. I am just fortunate to be in a position that college costs are workable when they are not for so many.

I complain about my state a lot (I mean a lot!) but they have done a relatively good job of supporting higher education. They have the second lowest in-state tuition of any state behind only Wyoming. Plus they have a strong scholarship program to further encourage the smart kids to stay in state. The net result is that the prestige of the State schools are rising pretty fast while staying cheaper than most. Understanding of course that it is all relative to how cheap it should be.