Florida Solved the Student Debt Crisis While You Weren’t Looking

The real cost of college is on most parents’ minds—in more ways than one.

At a time of runaway inflation, every penny counts. And, well, higher education costs a pretty penny. That’s even more true when you have four children like my wife and I do.

And at a time when our national politics is so divided and heated, college campuses have become places of identity politics, agendas, and indoctrination, instead of intellectual diversity and academic research. With tuition dollars sky high and student debt reaching into the trillions of dollars, it’s fair for parents to wonder why all those pennies are being turned into protest camps, not Nobel Prizes.

My oldest daughter turns 13 this year, but she’s ahead on her schoolwork. She’s already thinking about college. A big part of that conversation has always been about better opportunities. But with tuition skyrocketing and college campuses focused more on hate-fueled political activism and indoctrination than learning, the conversation in our family has changed.

Other parents I talk to say the same thing. They see “elite” colleges offering their kids a better opportunity to get arrested than to get a good job or afford a house. Families across the country are naturally starting to look for something else. 

That’s why I’m so excited about a new option available to my daughter: an innovative program in Florida that offers a top-tier education with a hard cap on tuition, meaning you can earn a degree without the lifetime of student loans. This option changes the way we can think about—and talk to our kids about—the next steps in their education.

It’s an entirely new model that wasn’t available to my generation or the generations before me. But advancements in technology—and bold, innovative leadership from Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature—allowed them to create an option for out-of-state students (like my daughter) to enroll in distance learning at one of three Florida colleges at a brand-new lower tuition rate.

Beginning with this upcoming school year, Florida is charging roughly $7,000 per year for out-of-state remote students. My daughter is one of four kids, so comparing that figure to the alternative was eye-opening. According to U.S. News and World Report ratings, out-of-state tuition at public colleges across the country was $23,630 last year, and an incredible $42,162 for private schools. Even if you don’t have to multiply that number by more than one child, many families only have two real options—a future without college or a lifetime of debt.

Frankly, this Florida reform IS something that middle-class families can afford, especially compared to the sticker shock of the alternatives that are becoming increasingly out of reach for many families.

So when I excitedly texted her with news of Florida’s new reform, it sparked in her an exciting realization. She could work part-time and pay for her education as she goes. Great degree, no debt.

Florida’s approach to higher education is a beacon of efficiency and transparency, making it a model for the rest of the nation. Here’s why:

First (and probably top of the list for most parents), this is a top-quality education. U.S. News and World Reports, famous for their higher education rankings, just rated Florida’s system number one in the country for the seventh year in a row. 

Second, they’re doing it without the massive tuition hikes found everywhere else in the country. It’s actually the opposite: Florida’s public universities have the lowest cost of earning a degree. That’s partly because Florida switched to performance-based funding for its universities, using metrics like the employment rates of its graduates, alumni earnings, and graduation rates rather than a blank check.

Third, Florida embraces transparency to help families like ours make informed decisions. Instead of hiding behind rosy brochures and lofty promises, Florida schools provide clear data about affordability, graduation rates, real-world earnings and employment data, and even real-world information about alternative career pathways.

Gov. DeSantis is putting Washington, D.C. to shame on this. This reform has the practical effect of ending the student debt crisis for future students who are savvy enough to do their research and land at a Florida college.

While Florida students are able to afford college without a loan, the Biden administration is going in the opposite direction—trying to use our tax dollars to forgive student loans for households making above $312,000. 

The price tag for President Biden’s election-year student loan stunt could cost taxpayers as much as three-quarters of a trillion dollars. By contrast, for all the good Florida’s program is going to do—for the students, their families, and the future of the state—it isn’t going to cost the taxpayers a dime. This reform has really flown under the national radar screen, which is a shame. Gov. DeSantis deserves a lot more credit than he’s getting for this.

I don’t know where my daughter will ultimately land. I want her to be happy and fulfilled, whether that means trade school or completing a four-year degree. But I’m relieved that there is now, thanks to Florida’s leadership, an affordable option that won’t end in decades of debt repayment and regret.

That’s something that makes these conversations about her future a little easier.