Affordable college savings key to Florida’s degree goals
The state Higher Education Coordinating Council recently set an important goal of 55 percent of Florida’s working-age population attaining college degrees or professional certificates by 2025. It is the first time the state has set such a specific degree-attainment goal, and it comes as our State University System continues to see improvement in graduation and retention rates due to performance funding. Florida now has the best graduation rate among the 10 largest states.
Currently, 46.9 percent of Floridians of working age have degrees. Yet the state projects that an estimated 64 percent of Florida’s jobs in 2025 will require education beyond high school. We have a pressing need for more degreed and profes- sionally trained job seekers.
Yet the path to meeting any higher education benchmark begins long before a student walks onto our college or university campuses. The obvious start comes in kindergarten and continues through grade 12, as students must get the foundation of education and learning that prepares them for the rigors of earning a college degree or post-secondary certification. It is a continuum of learning, all the way from K-12 to the highest potential degree that a student might achieve.
But there’s something else that I believe gets overlooked, yet is critical to getting more students into our workforce with college degrees and certifications: The ability to pay for college, without taking on debt.
Research shows that having as little as $500 saved for college makes a child more likely to enroll in college, and that having savings makes them more likely to graduate. Fortunately, our state’s Florida Prepaid College Plans offer an affordable way for families to save for college, starting when a child is born. We have in Florida the largest and longest-running Prepaid Plan in the nation, guaranteed by the state to offer families peace of mind as they save for college.
Legislation initiated by Gov. Rick Scott and approved by the Florida Legislature has allowed the Florida Prepaid College Board since 2014 to dramatically reduce – and hold the line on – Prepaid Plan prices, with options as low as $47 a month.
Collective, coordinated efforts like this — keeping higher education tuition affordable, setting college graduation goals, incentivizing universities to improve retention and graduation rates through performance funding, collaborating from K-20 to build the talent that our state’s economy needs –are building a stronger Florida. We have work to do, but we are also making great progress.
Open Enrollment for Florida Prepaid Plans runs through Feb. 28, and is the only time each year that families can buy Prepaid Plans. I encourage you to go to www.myfloridaprepaid.com to learn more.