If I were to get a full ride scholarship to a school outside of Florida,
there would be no point in doing a transfer, since I won’t need any of the prepaid money to pay for college, right?
Would I just need to fill out a scholarship refund form every semester to get the amount of money it WOULD cost to attend an FL school?
There is also an option to cancel the prepaid account but I think you only would be refunded the amount of money you put in to the account.
Anyone who’s experienced this or knows of this, please help.
Thank you.
ON second thought, I think I’d need to fill out a transfer form to let Prepaid know I am not in FL, and then fill out the refund forms every semester.
Well, what do you think?
You can call FPP and they will tell you all your options (or look on the website). Some people do withdraw it year by year, others save it for grad school.
It’s basically a 529 plan if you don’t use it in Florida.
I think you’re asking if you can get the “value” of the FL prepaid in a withdraw each semester, vs just the payout amount of what you put in? I’m not sure that is an option, do call them. If your “full ride” is all included books, travel expenses, etc…, then you may just want to save the Florida Prepaid, or see if it can apply to summer tuition, before deciding to take a payout. We intend to ask some similar questions.
There is an option if you receive a scholarship that covers what pre-paid is supposed to cover, to get refunded each semester.
It can be either a restricted or unrestricted refund.
RESTRICTED REFUND – If you select this option, you will be refunded the amount of the total number of credit hours at the average rate payable per credit hour at Florida’s public colleges or universities.
UNRESTRICTED REFUND – If you select this option, you will be refunded for the total dollar amount paid for covered expenses, up to the total plan value.
Can anyone please explain to me what the Restricted Refund is? It doesn’t make any sense to me.
@twoinanddone Yeah I will most likely save it for grad school.
Also, for anyone reading, I found out that if you go to a Florida state college or uni and get a full scholarship that covers costs that were covered by Prepaid, prepaid is used first then the scholarship is used for remaining costs.
I don’t think this is correct. You, as the owner of the account, have the right to use it or not use it whether you have a scholarship or not. If you have a scholarship, elect not to use the funds. I know a lot of people who get scholarships, have prepaid, and get Bright Futures. They stack the awards and usually get a refund back from the school.
There are dozens of plans and they aren’t all treated the same way. Some pick a 2+2 when the child is 4 years old, but when the child is 17 she wants to go to UF. There are adjustments for that. Some people have housing on their plans. There isn’t one answer.
Restricted will give you the tuition for the credit hours. If tuition at UF/UCF/FSU is $3500 per semester for 15 credits, and you take 15 credits, you’ll get $3500. The unrestricted amount is for covered expenses and has a value based on the amount you paid in, growth of the fund during your investment period, etc. You receive the value of the account for the term, which might be more than the $3500 but might be less. There is no guarantee that the fund will grow, only that if you go to a participating public school, the fund will pay the tuition even if the fund decreases in value or tuition skyrockets.
How do you chose not to use the funds on the Prepaid? Just notify the college?
“Florida PrePaid will apply to tuition due first. Then, any other funds awarded (Presidential Scholarship, grants, loans) apply to the student’s account balance with the Bursar’s office, followed by final qualifying Bright Futures award amounts. Students should follow up with the University Bursar to ensure the process runs smoothly.”
http://www.admissions.ufl.edu/afford/scholarshipfaq#collapse12
The school has no idea if you have prepaid or not until you elect to use it. FPP is a separate agency. BF is a separate agency. When you attend a Florida public school, you get a bill and you decide how you will pay it - with BF, with FPP, with cash, with scholarships, with loans. You have to direct them to use FPP.
I assume you have parents who paid for FPP and you are just trying to figure out how not to waste the money. It won’t be wasted if you go OOS, but your best benefit will probably be to use it at a Florida public school. That’s what it was designed for, to guarantee that the fund would cover tuition at a public school years and years from when the investment was made. That’s the hedge your parents bought. If you use it OOS or at a private school, you are only guaranteed the value of instate tuition at a Florida school. FPP doesn’t care that tuition at Oklahoma has quadrupled or is 200% more at UNC than it was when the plan was purchased and the fund didn’t go up 200%.
My daughter attends a private school in Florida. There are quite a few kids who use FPP to pay part of their tuition, so many in fact that there is a dedicated person in the finance office who deals with FPP. She told me most students get about $6200 per year, as that is (was) about what tuition runs at a Florida public. That’s applied to their bills, along with their scholarships, grants, loans, and cash (because tuition is a lot more than $6200!). This would be the case at an OOS public or private, but the benefit to going to a Florida private school (or a public one) is that the school deals directly with the FPP office to get the money to the school. OOS, you have to do the paperwork.
Of course a full ride scholarship is going to be a good deal for you, plus you’d get the FPP benefits either for grad school or as cash. Good luck on your scholarship quest.
I’m curious, @twoinanddone, if at an OOS private school, do they reduce the amount “institutional need” they give by the amount of the Florida Prepaid Amount or are you able to utilize that towards your Expected Family contribution amount? Has anyone used it at a Private LAC College out of state?
I think the OOS schools treat FPP like a 529 account. It’s an asset available for college, so I think they would reduce institutional need grants by some amount just as they would if you had a 529 account. It’s an asset you have to include on your financial aid applications.
Thank you @twoinanddone.
I kind of just want to use the prepaid since the amount of money you will receive from prepaid cancellation is vague and I’m not sure if I’d have to do scholarship refunds and if those refunds should be restricted or unrestricted.