Betty Lochner
Chair of the College Savings Plans Network and Director of Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program
January 5, 2015
The new-year is upon us and that means many of us have set resolutions like finding time to exercise more, eat well or accomplish a long-established goal.
While I see the merit in making resolutions, I’ve never been one to make too many of them. There is one life-changing resolution I did make 15 years ago when I was hired as the Director of the GET program. Believe it or not, my husband and I had not started saving for our children’s college education and I knew if we did not start now we were never going to make it happen. We started small and kept adding to the effort over the years and I am proud to say that both of my kids graduated debt-free! My son recently completed his MBA at the University of Washington and is now a project manager at Microsoft and my daughter followed in her father’s footsteps and is a first grade teacher.
As a parent, there is no greater joy and feeling of pride than seeing your adult children living out their dreams and contributing to their community in a meaningful way. I am so grateful that we saved for our children’s college education because I truly believe the opportunities they’ve been afforded today are the result of their hard work in the classroom and our commitment as parents in instilling strong moral character and a caring heart.
Since I started my job here at Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program nearly 15 years ago, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with thousands of parents and I’ve always felt like I’ve had a connection with our customers because of the common bond we share in helping our children reach their full potential.
As we head into 2015, I want to thank the millions of parents across the country that have chosen to save for their children’s college education with a 529 plan. I am excited to see the progress we are making in helping American’s reach their savings goals and want to remind parents that every dollar saved makes a difference!