College Savings Plans a Good Investment
This is different from my usual my-kids-wear-me-out and my-real-estate-work-is-oh-so-interesting posts, but I saw this article on the msnbc.com web site and wanted to share. It's titled Prepay Your Way to College by Jane Bryant Quinn.
Some history, before I moved to Tennessee three years ago, I was the founding staff member of the College Savings Plans Network headquartered in Lexington, Ky. We started out small ... there were seven states (Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio & Wyoming) with prepaid tuition programs ... actually I think Kentucky had the only savings plan. The states banded together and fought all the way to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals against an "entrepreneur" who had filed a patent on a mathematical formula. The formula is what the states used to determine the return of the investments against the annual increased tuition rates. The court did not determine that the guy couldn't patent a mathematical formula, but it DID determine the sovereign rights of states. It was a huge victory for state rights, and even bigger for the college savings programs.
Our next major struggle was lobbying Washington DC to get tax-exempt status on the returns. After many phone calls, letters, personal visits to the halls of Congress, etc. we were again victorious. And according to the article by Jane Bryant Quinn above, Congress just made the exemption permanent. This is all good.
I stepped down as the director of the Network about five years ago.... I was director but not in name because of a micro-managing boss (if you go to the Network's web page you'll not that she doesn't even allow staff names to be listed because "it's not about the staff." I've always thought that was a stupid decision because the constituents needed to know who to contact).
Anyway, if you have children you should seriously consider starting a college savings account them. If they decide to not go to college, then you can use it for yourself or roll it to another child or other relative. If you have brainy children and they win scholarships, then you can just cash it out and use it for a fancy vacation!
Okay, here are some places I was quoted back in the day:
College Savings Iowa Helps Students Save Early for School
Education Plan Freezes State Tuition
There were many more (Sesame Street Parents, Fortune, Money, NY Times, Washington Post), but they didn't show up in my google search.
Oh. My last conference as "director" for the Network was September 7-9, 2001 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At the conference, my temporary crown on my front tooth broke off so I walked around with my hand covering my mouth the whole time. I was presented this beautiful silver plate and asked to make a speech. It was the one time in my life (and should've been my most prestigious professional moment) when I couldn't talk. How embarrassing. Had I made my "thank you" speech, I would've looked like a toothless hillbilly clutching that silver plate.
Some history, before I moved to Tennessee three years ago, I was the founding staff member of the College Savings Plans Network headquartered in Lexington, Ky. We started out small ... there were seven states (Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio & Wyoming) with prepaid tuition programs ... actually I think Kentucky had the only savings plan. The states banded together and fought all the way to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals against an "entrepreneur" who had filed a patent on a mathematical formula. The formula is what the states used to determine the return of the investments against the annual increased tuition rates. The court did not determine that the guy couldn't patent a mathematical formula, but it DID determine the sovereign rights of states. It was a huge victory for state rights, and even bigger for the college savings programs.
Our next major struggle was lobbying Washington DC to get tax-exempt status on the returns. After many phone calls, letters, personal visits to the halls of Congress, etc. we were again victorious. And according to the article by Jane Bryant Quinn above, Congress just made the exemption permanent. This is all good.
I stepped down as the director of the Network about five years ago.... I was director but not in name because of a micro-managing boss (if you go to the Network's web page you'll not that she doesn't even allow staff names to be listed because "it's not about the staff." I've always thought that was a stupid decision because the constituents needed to know who to contact).
Anyway, if you have children you should seriously consider starting a college savings account them. If they decide to not go to college, then you can use it for yourself or roll it to another child or other relative. If you have brainy children and they win scholarships, then you can just cash it out and use it for a fancy vacation!
Okay, here are some places I was quoted back in the day:
College Savings Iowa Helps Students Save Early for School
Education Plan Freezes State Tuition
There were many more (Sesame Street Parents, Fortune, Money, NY Times, Washington Post), but they didn't show up in my google search.
Oh. My last conference as "director" for the Network was September 7-9, 2001 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At the conference, my temporary crown on my front tooth broke off so I walked around with my hand covering my mouth the whole time. I was presented this beautiful silver plate and asked to make a speech. It was the one time in my life (and should've been my most prestigious professional moment) when I couldn't talk. How embarrassing. Had I made my "thank you" speech, I would've looked like a toothless hillbilly clutching that silver plate.
posted by Kathy T. at 8:11 PM
1 Comments:
Way to represent the South.
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