<p>I have found my family in a situation I would greatly appreciate help with. We have a Florida pre-paid college program (tution and fees - no board). We applied for and got into a private college in Florida and a public one in Alabama (where we now live) My son's first choice was the one in Florida and we were excited when he got in. The problem is that we did not (to my own fault) know that the FL-Prepaid only paid the public tuition amount and not private and we are no where close to affording it. The have offered him a small tuition break (eventhough he takes rigorous classes (IB & AP) and has a 3.87 GPA, 4th in his class graduating this year. We have asked for more help, but it still comes to around $23K short each year - this also includes the reduction of FL-Prepaid. Only I can work and we cannot afford a $23K loan each year. We feel that we are left with two options</p>
<p>1) Apply to some more colleges - Who can PLEASE tell me what collegs are still accepting applications?
2) Find some grant/scholarship money ( we did not apply as we thought we were covered) We are afraid our (my) lack of preparedness has officially hindered his college career. Any advice on one of the above is greatly appreciated</p>
<p>If he wants to go to school in Florida he might try UCF or USF. I think both schools are on a rolling admissions program. I don’t know if they are still taking applications, but you can check.</p>
<p>Hmmm. Is there an advantage to using the Florida prepaid money IN FLORIDA rather than applying the amount that you have prepaid to cover college expenses somewhere else?</p>
<p>FAQ *Florida Prepaid College Plan:
You may use the plan at any of Florida’s 11 public universities or 28 community colleges (including the nine colleges granting baccalaureate degrees.) and select technical schools. You may transfer the value of the plan (the same amount paid to a public college in Florida) to most private and out-of-state colleges. *</p>
<p>If you want to use the money in Florida, could he do a semester at a community college that is in the same city as a favorite Florida public college and start at that favorite Florida public college for his second semester, using the Florida pre-paid money there? Students do this for UT Austin and for UC Santa Barbara - they are “close” and get some of the feel of being students at the four year college while they are in community college in the same city. </p>
<p>This thread also has some discussion of the idea of taking a gap year and re-applying next year, so you can meet fall freshman scholarship and financial aid deadlines.</p>
<p>midwestmom, the OP said that her son got into a Florida private, not a public. Your suggestion won’t work for a private. Students using their Florida Prepaid money at a private will only receive around $96 per credit hour (the average cost of a Florida public) to be paid to the private. That’s a total of just under $12,000 for 4 years. If the student uses it at a Florida public, even one that charges more than $96 per credit hour (such as UF), it will cover the entire tuition/fees.</p>
<p>I am surprised with those grades that the private school didn’t give a decent amount of aid, most do. My son applied to both public and private schools and most of the private schools gave enough aid to make the cost comparable to attend either type of school.</p>
<p>Am I missing something? The OP’s son was accepted at a public college in Alabama. The Florida money can be applied to that college. There won’t be anything like a $23,000/year gap between in-state Alabama tuition and in-state Florida tuition. So it looks like he has a good option for next year. He may prefer the private Florida college, all things being equal, but all things aren’t anywhere near equal.</p>
<p>The gap would be the plan pays the rate of in-state Florida public school versus OUT-OF-STATE Florida tuition (which the OP would now have to pay since they don’t live in Florida). In-state Florida tuition is pretty cheap. Most out-of-state public tuition is much higher. I think Florida State or Florida only carries about a $6k-$7k annual tuition cost.</p>
<p>Hi Hatten, I live in AL and have several Fla friends. what school in Al was he admitted to?
Could he apply to a Fla public school? I know some of them are extremely competitive because of Bright Futures. Is there any possibility of in state tuition in Florida, I’m assuming you lived in Fl at one time and moved to AL? Can the FL pre-paid be transferred to AL?</p>
<p>No Rjp, if his family is in-state in AL now then he will only owe in-state tuition, the Fl pre-paid should just about cover the cost. If he applied to UA he will probably also get scholarship money, if he filled out that application. The scholarships are additive, too, my DS ended up owing only books and about $1000/semester, after scholarship and AL pre-paid - and he lives on campus.</p>
<p>Cangel - sorry, I edited my post, I meant to say in-state vs out-of-state FL in the event they still wanted to go to Fl. There is a big difference in the rates at Florida schools. You are right there shouldn’t be a huge difference between their pre-paid plan and in-state AL tuition.</p>
<p>Parenthetically, and not that it matters, but I would find it somewhat outrageous if Florida charged the OP’s family out-of-state tuition at a public college after they bought a Florida prepaid tuition plan while living in Florida but then moved to Alabama. That’s probably the way things would work, but it’s just not right. If, while a resident, you prepay a year’s worth of credits at a public college, you ought to get a year’s worth of credits when the time comes, even if the family has moved.</p>
<p>However, I don’t know how much luck you will have with getting scholarship money at this late date. I imagine that most of it is already spoken for. He might be better off going to a local community college for the Fall semester and then applying to transfer for the Spring to a good in-state public. </p>
<p>Since the family has a FL pre-paid plan, they would get charged FL instate public rates even tho they now live in Alabama.</p>
<p>So…the choices are…go to a Florida public</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Go to an Alabama public (most are likely accepting applications and with his stats, he’d get in - I’m guessing his ACT/SAT is adequate.)</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Go to an OOS public that will waive OOS fees for stats (like UArkansas)</p>
<p>The problem is that we know the student’s GPA, but not his ACT/SAT. If it’s decent, he probably got a scholarship from the Alabama public which makes his pre-pay plan even more useful. I think an Alabama public - like Bama - would be a more affordable option now.</p>
<p>I am just relaying what I have been told from a financial aid office at a Florida public college that my son was accepted to. The Florida pre-paid plan is a completely separate entity from determining in-state or out-of-state tuition. If you do not have Florida residency you are required to pay out-of-state tuition and your pre-paid plan won’t cover it.</p>
<p>EDIT… With that said, the documentation on the Florida Pre-paid website says that once you are enrolled in the program and complete the contract you will receive in-state benefits even if you move out-of-state. </p>
<p>Also looks like there is now 2 different plans available for Florida pre-paid, 1 requires residency to enroll and 1 does not. So they have expanded the program to have options even for those that begin the process as an out-of-state resident.</p>
<p>A freind’s son failed to get into UF. He went to Sante Fe Community College in Gainsville and transferred into UF a year later. He didn’t do it for residency reasons but is it possible for this student to qualify in a year for is? Of course it causes insurance problems.</p>
<p>OP, how does your S feel about the AL school. If the FL private is off the table, would he be satisfied to go to the AL school? Did he only apply to the AL school thinking it was a safety/ he wouldn’t really end up going there? </p>
<p>It would make the most sense to go to the AL school or try the FL publics that are still taking apps. and use his pre-paid plan. Even if it’s not a FL flagship, he could always start at one of the FL directional u’s and transfer later if he chose to.</p>
<p>Or he could start at the Alabama school and then transfer to a Florida public later. Or he could apply to more Alabama publics. It sounds like he only applied to one Alabama school.</p>
<p>For instance…if he only applied to UAH, then he could apply to Bama, Auburn, UAB, USA, etc.</p>
<p>The other kicker is a few FL schools charge AL residents instate tuition - There’s a good bit of Alabama that is closer to FL than any major in-state Alabama college. I know UWF does and Pensacola residents can come to USA in Mobile at in-state rates, and I think I heard once that FL State may do the same thing for residents of some Alabama counties…but don’t quote me.</p>