<p>We have the Florida prepaid college plan (4 years plus 1 yr dorm, not local plan). and my daughter will get the Full Bright Futures Scholarship. What happens in this case? Do we get our prepaid college plan back? Can we use either of them for other college incidentals like meal plans, local fees etc.... Do we have to do anything special? My daughter has already done the Bright Futures application and we have already received her prepaid college student ID cards. How does this work?</p>
<p>you get one of them back, i'm not sure which one but the money does come back to you as I am in the same situation.</p>
<p>you get back your prepaid in the amount that you have paid without interest.. meaning that everything you paid for the prepaid plan is given back to you.. the full amount</p>
<p>not true, you get the current price of the college education, as in what it would had you not gotten bright futures. You get what you put into it back only if you go to an OOS college or no college at all.</p>
<p>bf is 3 years or 4 yrs...hmmm crap...brain fart</p>
<p>Wrong you get back what ever you do not use, it's your money. Depending when you signed up for the plan the way it works is you pay now for college and get today prices for tutition and board, so if you do not graduate high school till 2010 then when you go to college you pay today prices for tuition in 2010. </p>
<p>I did not sign my son up until a few years ago so I was not eligible to pay for the room and board fees, so I was only putting in tuition payments. But he now is getting 100% bright futures scholarship so we will get everything back
I paid in. (which will be used for room and board but at today prices)</p>
<p>If you started the plan early enough the money can be used for room and board at prices back then not todays prices.</p>
<p>I think you're wrong, you use the prepaid and then bright futures comes back to you...</p>
<p>As I said</p>
<p>Gatordan-
Thank you SO MUCH! This website (I printed the 2 pages) gives the definitive answer. You are correct! We use the prepaid account to pay for school and the Bright Futures is used to cover any expenses not covered by the prepaid contract. UF will issue a check to the student for the unused portion of the scholarship. These funds may then be used by the student to offset expenses that are not covered by the Prepaid contract.
I wonder if that includes food (dining plan/board)?</p>
<p>But doesn't Bright Futures only pay for tutition? (and books) so if you use Floriada Prepaid college fund to bay for tutition, then home can you use Nright Futures to pay for dorms fees and meal plans?</p>
<p>they give you the cash that bright futures is worth, and you spend it on whatever you want, food, room, booze, drugs, gambling, you name it.</p>
<p>Gatordan is correct.</p>
<p>I have a daughter in this situation (now a junior) at FSU. I don't see UF being any different in the application of monies. </p>
<p>The prepaid tuition plan is applied to tuition, up to 120 credits, automatically, by the university. Prepaid dorm is applied to dorm, automatically, by the university. Bright Futures comes to her through her university account as cash. A university scholarship she receives also comes as cash. The BF book amount also comes as cash.</p>
<p>The trick is what happens in the summer. Prepaid is still applied to tuition, but BF does not come in the summer. Stafford loans still come, but not BF. If your child will attend in the summer, be prepared to pay for some expenses, like housing, on your own.</p>
<p>Not sure how UF handles funds in general, but FSU kids have an account tied to their ID card into which all funds <em>may</em> be deposited (you have to set this up when they get their ID card). They then carry the ID card and use it as a debit card both on and off campus. Very safe and convenient, as I can check what she owes and transfer funds accordingly online.</p>
<p>so is it more beneficail that way? </p>
<p>The way I read it it you could actually get refunded the Prepaid Fund, which evidently pay you the current price for tutition but for each semister. Which they way I figure pays you more then what you put it orginally. </p>
<p>I guess it depends how you look at it, is really same/same. Whether you have Prepaid College Fund pay for your tution then get cash for the bright futures.
Or have Bright futures pay for tuition (which my son is getting 100% not 75%)
and get a refund for the amount I paid into Prepaid.</p>
<p>I just wondering if one is more beneficial than the other, how and why? What is your take? Or is it same/same.</p>
<p>I probably paid $10,000 to Prepaid and will get refund $13,320 or more ($1650approx a semister) </p>
<p>My sons prepaid covers only tuition(I did not prepay dorm fees) so will I get more back from Bright Futures? tuition and book fees?</p>
<p>I was under the impression that if you do not use the Prepaid for tuition, only what you paid into it is refunded (not the current tuition rate). That is why it is such a great deal to do it in advance (today's tuition at yesterday's prices).</p>
<p>That's what I thought to but I just read that on the site: </p>
<p>Your scholarship refund will be based on the current value of your account.*
Please allow four weeks for processing. Scholarships refunds are paid by semester and must be requested, in writing, each semester.</p>
<p>Tuition/Local Fees Plan Refund=Total Credit Hours X Current Value one Credit Hour at Public Credit Hour at a Public College in Florida. Dormitory Plan Refund = One Dormitory Semester X Average Dormitory Rate at a Public College in Florida.</p>
<p>I would suggest leaving the Prepaid funds to pay for tuition and the BF funds go to other expenses, like a computer, software, supplies and so on. If you don't need them immediately you could bank them for later school expenses.</p>
<p>Remember, if your child for some reason does not make appropriate grades or some other circumstance occurs, you could lose Bright Futures funds. If you keep Prepaid funds in place, you're secure in knowing that most of the tuition expenses are covered. I guess I'm kind of belt and suspenders here, but I'd rather receive the funds and then decide what to do with them as opposed to changing the process up front and hoping for the best.</p>
<p>The universities also have fees that are not covered by Prepaid, and these fees are going up; so it's nice to have the extra BF cash come in to pay expenses as you go. For example, certain dorms at FSU now require the student to buy a meal plan. This is new. UF may well have some similar changes.</p>
<p>This thread should be useful to most, especially now that summer's approaching</p>
<p>Ah, nice bump.</p>
<p>Yes. If you have other scholarships that are tuition-only, or prepaid, they'll give you your Bright Futures for other expenses. You earned it and they're getting what they want by keeping you in Florida.</p>
<p>If you have Prepaid Tuition and BF, do they give you the lump sum of $4240 from Bright Futures for your own use or do they recalculate the price somehow?</p>