Florida Is Making Student Loans Obsolete
- BY FGA
Why go into student loan debt when you could go to Florida instead?
Tuition rates are skyrocketing, and more and more young adults are taking on significant debt before they even enter the workforce. America’s cumulative student loan debt is rapidly approaching $2 trillion, and the only people benefiting from this usury are administrators and lenders. This alarming reality is only made worse knowing that college campuses are putting activism ahead of academics and 40 percent of recent college graduates are working in jobs that don’t require a college degree.
It’s understandable that families would be left wondering if it’s worth it for their children to go to college—or if they should seek other options.
Florida is leveraging technology to provide a new option for parents and students to consider. With their new website, XploreFLEd, Florida has created an affordable national online college program that effectively makes the student loan industry unnecessary. Students from across the country now have access to more than two dozen online degrees and hundreds of courses through Polk State College, Tallahassee State College, and Miami Dade College for half of the current out-of-state tuition rate.
Florida is the first state to pass this solution into law, and it could revolutionize higher education for the rest of the country.
Florida’s top-tier education system is now accessible for the low cost of only $7,000 per year—the lowest-cost option for college in the country. For students with Pell Grants, tuition would be fully covered, meaning no cost to lower-income families. For everyone else, part-time employment would be more than enough to cover the cost of tuition, making it possible for every single student to graduate without debt.
Additionally, the online degree program with these colleges has rolling admission, giving students flexibility in applying for school.
Every state has reason to be concerned about student loans and the cost of higher education. Florida is actually doing something about it.
This trailblazing reform shows what is possible when innovative lawmakers and reform-minded university officials work together to benefit students and tuition-paying families, not their bottom line. Thanks to their hard work, students from across the country can now enjoy a quality Florida education and a solid, debt-free start to their careers. More states can learn from Florida’s bold example.
