By Lisa Groen
Senior Writer, Utah Educational Savings Plan
January 19, 2015

More than 50 years ago, when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke the words, “I have a dream,” he contrasted racial injustice with the U.S. Constitution’s promise of equality and opportunity for all. He called for change, including equal access to education.

As the nation’s college savings plans continue to work to ensure that King’s dream of equal access is fully realized, they can rely on encouraging data that lends understanding to what may help children attain a college education. William Elliott, a researcher on the topic of children’s savings accounts (CSAs), reports that when children have savings accounts in their names, they are more likely to attend college, regardless of their parents’ personal savings and net worth. A child with as little as $1 to $499 in a CSA is 3 times more likely to enroll and 2.5 times more likely to graduate from college.*  This suggests that designating a savings account for a child’s future college expenses, regardless of the amount saved, may be vital to academic attainment—important information for families considering opening a 529 college savings account.

By Lauren Shipley
Public relations and marketing manager, College Savings Plans of Maryland
October 6, 2014

I hear one frightening theme as I travel in October: “I have been meaning to start a 529 plan for a while.”  I believe many families understand the need to save for college, but often misunderstand the true benefit of saving.

It may sound bewitching, but each family has the power to cut their child’s future college costs in half. The power lies in saving now versus borrowing later.  To cover $25,000 in college costs, a family could put away $92 a month into a 529 plan for 15 years—a total investment of $17,000.

1. A family choosing to borrow the $25,000 instead would have to repay roughly $35,000 (or approximately $300 a month over the next ten years)

2. Their total debt would be double the amount spent by the family who saved. Ghoulish, right?!

By Betty Lochner
Chair of the College Savings Plans Network and director of Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program
September 25, 2014

Well it’s been another eventful and all-together successful College Savings Month!

In case you missed it, throughout the month of September, eight-year-old CSPN correspondent Charlie Davenport was busy investigating the inner-workings of the 529 world in a four-part series titled “College Savings Uncovered.” 

By Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer
September 23, 2014

From September 6-10, the NAST* Annual Conference was held at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. It was my first visit there and I know exactly why they call it the Grand Hotel. It is massive, impressive and unique. The weather was spectacular while we were there. Even though it may be a bit difficult to travel to the island, the entire experience is well worth the effort.

By: Betty Lochner
Chair of the College Savings Plans Network & Director of Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) Program
Sept. 9, 2014

Education is the key to unlocking the door to opportunity. Throughout the past several years, new research continues to provide supportive evidence that a college degree not only increases the economic earning power of both individuals and our national economy, but it is also proven to contribute to improved health, homeownership, voting rates, community volunteerism and other social benefits.  While there is no doubt the cost of a college education has increased dramatically in the past two decades, Americans continue to display their growing value of a college degree by saving more of their hard-earned dollars for the future higher education expenses of their children.