Parents who want to start paying for their children's college education early can get into the Florida Prepaid College Program starting Thursday.
Open enrollment begins Thursday and runs until the end of February. It's the only time of year when parents can buy a prepaid college plan.
The program lets parents start paying off their children's college education years in advance, a little at a time.
Program leaders say it can also be applied to Florida students who decide to go to college in another state.
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"What we would do is we would apply the value of what we would have paid to, for example, Florida State University, and we would send that to the institution that they would go to out of state," said Shannon Colavecchio, spokesperson for Florida Prepaid.
Parents can purchase plans for children of any age, from newborns to high school juniors.
Last year, prepaid college rates were slashed almost in half after a new law capped tuition increases. The Florida Prepaid College Board says it rates are still near those historic lows.