<p>I think it is a sweet deal. I just took a loan from my 401K and cut a check for $11,000 (owwwwwwwwwwwwwch!)to open an account. Unlike a 528, this program guarentees to pay tuition for 4 years at a public Florida University when my daughter who is now 2 years old goes to college. If she decides to go to another school, they pay the equivalent amount towards tuition at any accredited school. The program is gaurenteed by the state government, too so if it ever goes belly up, Florida will pick up the tab. On top of that, I opened a 529, but I don’t intend on putting much into it, as I need to repay the loan back from my 401K and move on with my life. It is a good feeling though knowing that it is paid off. If you are interested, all you need to do to qualify is to have almost any type of relative of the child living in Florida to open an account.</p>
<p>We opened a Florida Prepaid Tuition Account for our 2 sons in 1994 when they were 5 and 8,. I think we paid around $5,500 apiece. Our oldest is now a sophomore in college at UF and Florida Prepaid so far has paid out around $4500 for his first 2 years, so we’ll break even on him sometime early next semester. I’m not sure how much we could have made on that initial $5,500 investment if we had put it into a mutual fund or some other type of account-- maybe more than Fla. Prepaid is giving us, maybe not. But the security of knowing that their in-state tuition was taken care of, no matter what might happen to us or our income or our savings over the years, was worth every penny that we invested.</p>
<p>I agree. I think that there are a lot of people who invester in 529s who’s children went to college around 9-11 who took a bath. The way I look at it, tuition is going to go uo faster than inflation anyway. In the past 10 years, Florida ttion has gone up 6.5%/ yrar. However, this is below the national average and I thnk this rate will increase, as shown by the increase in other states. The piece of mind to me is worth it.</p>