Officials say twice as many people signed up for pre-paid plans this year. Program chairman Stanley Tate says about 153-thousand new contracts were signed during the three-month registration period that ended in January.

The pre-paid program allows its members to pay in advance for any Florida child to attend a state university or community college, locking in the price when they sign the contract. It also gives them the option of paying over time.

Recommendations from the state Board of Education would have transferred the power to set college tuition from the Legislature to individual universities.

Tate says that would have destroyed the actuarial tables that make Florida Pre-paid possible because there would be multiple tuitions across the state.

At least for now, any changes are at low priority in the Senate and the Florida House.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)