Just paid off DD's college plan!!

[lillygator]

I am so excited!!

 

[Hedy]

Awesome!

 

[StephMK]

Congrats & way to go!!!

 

[MissyDVC]

Wow, that's great

 

[nowellsl]

If you did the FL pre-paid plan you will be sooooo glad you did! My DD is almost done with college and I haven't had to pay anything. She also got a bright futures scholarship and that has paid for the books, etc. Be sure to get the fee plan too!

 

[lillygator]

If you did the FL pre-paid plan you will be sooooo glad you did! My DD is almost done with college and I haven't had to pay anything. She also got a bright futures scholarship and that has paid for the books, etc. Be sure to get the fee plan too!

wow - can you tell me what the fee plan includes? Thanks!

 

[winnyis]

I bought the FL prepaid plans for both my kids. I got the tuition, fee and Room and board plans for both kids. DD's I paid off in a lump sum and DS's I am making payments on. It really sounds like you cant lose with this plan and the fact of knowing they are guaranteed a college education without going into debt is really nice. My kids are both really good students so Im hoping that they will get Bright Futures also which will pay for anything that the plans I bought dont.

 

[lillygator]

we did the four year FL pp university plan...you can add dorm up until 8th grade (my eldest is 4)....we have the Fl 529 plans for both girls and when DD goes to K we'll start the plan for our second DD. (we did the 5 year payment plan...it shaved off around $4k from the monthly to 18)....

 

[winnyis]

we did the four year FL pp university plan...you can add dorm up until 8th grade (my eldest is 4)....we have the Fl 529 plans for both girls and when DD goes to K we'll start the plan for our second DD. (we did the 5 year payment plan...it shaved off around $4k from the monthly to 18)....

How are your 529's doing??? I had 529's from NJ for both my kids since they were 8 weeks old (they are now 12 and 9) and finally this year we liquidated them because they were doing so poorly. They didnt have nearly the funds they told us they would when we opened them all those years ago. Only bad thing is that FL Prepaid couldnt accept a direct rollover from the 529 so I may have to pay capital gains on the money the plans did make but it was so much of a better deal in the long run we figured we would take the risk.

I would have loved to have paid both plans in lump sums but didnt have entire amount and the 5 year plan for DS would have been almost $700 a month so we bit the bullet and paid a little more with the monthly. BUT still overall - $40K for a college education is a great deal, especially with the choice of schools the kids can pick from UF, FL State, USF

 

[winnyis]

Lilligator - couldnt agree more with your profile - Siesta Key sand really is the best in the world. DH and I love it there and go as much as we possibly can.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

Do all states do this pre pay thing? And what if your child doesn't go to the state university...or college for that matter??

 

[winnyis]

Do all states do this pre pay thing? And what if your child doesn't go to the state university...or college for that matter??

Not sure if all states do it or not but if my kids get a scholarship to college or decide to go out of state - I can get all of the money I paid in back from FL prepaid.

 

[lillygator]

How are your 529's doing???

I would have loved to have paid both plans in lump sums but didnt have entire amount and the 5 year plan for DS would have been almost $700 a month so we bit the bullet and paid a little more with the monthly. BUT still overall - $40K for a college education is a great deal, especially with the choice of schools the kids can pick from UF, FL State, USF

the 529's are doing ok, not all that great but I am only putting in small amounts currently. I would have loved to do the lump sum, but could not afford it....the 5 year pay off was much better and hopefully that's what will do for our other DD.

 

[nowellsl]

wow - can you tell me what the fee plan includes? Thanks!

This is a local fee plan that the University charges in addition to tuition. It's so much per credit hour. I'm not sure how much it is since we haven't had to pay it, but you can bet it will going up each year (better to lock in the rate now!) It pays for things like the health center, transportation (city bus) etc.

 

[HeatherC]

Can you explain this to me a little more? We are in Massachusetts and have 529's for the kids. Never really understood how the UPLAN (Massachusetts plan) actually works. I know you prepay tuition, but do you pay all 4 years at once on a payment plan?

In other words...if college is $30,000 a year now and you sign up...do you pay them installments for $120,000? We are pretty good at saving, but with our other bills and 3 kids I can't see adding another $360,000 to our bills.

Are my numbers way off...or am I just confused.

My kids are 10, 8 and 6 so we are definitely getting closer to having to pay for it.

HeatherC

 

[lillygator]

http://www.florida529plans.com/

 

[HeatherC]

Thanks for the link, but I still don't know how much money we are talking. How much is a credit.

HeatherC

 

[DawnM]

There are too many "ifs" for me to do this.

I have no idea where we will live when my kids go to college.
What if my kids get a full scholarship somewhere else? Do I get my $$ back?
What if my child wants to go to a private college?
What if my child can't go to college (accident or whatever)?
What if they choose Duke over UNCC and it costs much more?

These questions are very real for us because I attended a private college and DH had a full ride scholarship, so pre-paying for specific colleges just doesn't make sense.

Dawn

 

[lillygator]

well it isn't something for everyone that is for sure. For us though it makes a lot of sense and if the girls get a scholarship or choose to go out of state we will get our money back (sans interest). Not knowing how our financial picture will be in the future it gives us peace of mind that we are able to do this now.

 

[dcfromva]

I am so excited!!

lillygator,
Congratulations!

We did the same for DS and it was a huge feeling of relief to know at a minimum his tuition and fees would be covered for an in state school.
DS just finished his first year of college (at an in state college) and the plan worked like a charm!

-DC