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For families around Florida, the time to start saving for college could be today.  As Matt Galka tells us, the Florida Prepaid open enrollment period has begun, with near record low rates available for parents planning for their children’s future.

Florida State Sophomore Hannah Padykula says her life as a student was made much easier thanks to the Florida Prepaid program.

“It’s made a world of a difference, I don’t have the stress anxiety that I see from students out of state or have that responsibility on my shoulders to pay for college,” she said.

Florida prepaid allows families to start saving for university or college tuition starting as early as when a child is first born.

“We know that college savings makes a huge difference in terms of whether you go to college and also whether you finish, because they’re not dealing with the debt and having to work and of course there’s the debt you have afterwards to pay off student loans,” said Prepaid spokeswoman Shannon Colavecchio.

Because 2016 is a leap year, families get one extra day to sign up. Open enrollment runs until February 29^th.

Rates for the college savings program skyrocketed during the recession. Numbers were down to only twelve thousand families investing.  But a tuition cap law slashed prices, and the amount of families who started new programs last year grew to over forty thousand.  Rates have gone up only slightly this year.

“The four year university plan two open enrollments ago was like $350 dollars a month for a newborn, you’re still looking at that versus 185 dollars, it’s still really good,” said Colavecchio.

If a student decides to go to a non-Florida school, the money saved can be put towards the out of state tuition.

Florida Prepaid is also giving away 10 two year state college scholarships. For more information on all the plans, go to www.myfloridaprepaid.com.