When I was just a baby my grandparents did an amazing thing for me. They purchased a pre-paid college plan for me here in the state of Florida. At the time they had two options. They could get a two year or a four year plan. They opted to purchase a four year plan. Papa and Mimi did this for my brother as well. They are very generous.
Mimi, Papa and me…
One of the things that really stands out to me now, particularly after my big disappointment, is the benefit of the pre-paid plan. Because of my low SAT score I do not qualify for the Florida scholarship program called ‘Bright Futures’. Which means that I get ZERO Bright Future dollars to offset the cost of college. (And I won’t even get into the mental affect of not qualifying for a Bright Future…..) 🙁
I have a friend right now in the same boat as me. She is a great student and makes very good grades, but she did not score high enough on the SAT to qualify for the Bright Futures Scholarship. So now she is stuck paying full price for her classes. She has to pay her own way so it is much more likely that she will have to take out student loans in order to pay for classes.
Because of the generosity of my grandparents I will still be able to take classes because they have already been paid for even though I won’t be earning a scholarship through the State of Florida.
There are a lot of us who have dreams about college who do not have the highest test scores and are never going to make it into Harvard. There are a lot of us who are not going to be awarded academic scholarships of any kind simply because we do not test well. A pre-paid college plan is a great answer for those of us who are in this situation.
Just recently I won $50 and a t-shirt from DoSomething for submitting a recreated picture of my grandparents in celebration of Grandparents Day. So thankful for my Papa and Mimi!
Now. I might luck out and win a $10,000 DoSomething scholarship or a speech contest. But in the event I don’t my grandparents have made it possible for me to attend classes. I can never repay them and am so grateful for their generosity.
When I have grandchildren of my own I hope to purchase a plan like this for them. By working hard and saving my money I should be in a position to help them as I have been helped. Even though we are young, we have a chance now to make a difference for our future children and grandchildren.
Thanks Papa and Mimi!
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