Prepaid tuition program price likely to increase
SEATTLE – Despite speculation to the contrary, the price for Washington’s prepaid tuition program will go up again this fall, according to officials with the Guaranteed Education Tuition program.
The committee that sets the price for GET units won’t meet until mid-August, but agency spokeswoman Susan Martensen told the Associated Press a price increase is all but certain.
“We have every indication from the state actuary that next year’s unit price will be higher,” she said. “It looks like we won’t see a large tuition jump next year as we have seen in the past few years, but tuition both next year and over the long term is still projected to rise.”
State Actuary Matt Smith said on Thursday that he can’t predict what the GET committee will decide in August, but agreed that all indications are that an increase in the unit price is likely this fall.
Since the program started in 1998, unit prices have never gone down; they’ve always gone up.
Meanwhile, Smith said, a long-term plan to reform the GET program and improve its financial picture seems to be working.
Washington’s prepaid tuition program is a state-run 529 college savings plan with a twist.
Investors are guaranteed that no matter what happens to the stock market or state tuition, they will be able to pay for an academic year of tuition and mandatory fees at the state’s most expensive college or university with 100 GET units. Tuition and fees at less expensive schools cost fewer units, and housing is extra.
People who already have GET accounts for their children or others will have one more month to buy GET units at this year’s price of $172 per unit, which translates into $17,200 for a year of tuition and state mandated fees at the University of Washington or Washington State University.
Those who don’t have GET accounts will have until midnight tonight to join the program if they want to buy units at this year’s price. The exception to this rule is for accounts opened for new babies at any time. GET units can be used nationwide at colleges, universities and technical schools.
When the economy is strong and the stock market is growing, college savings in Washington’s GET program isn’t the most lucrative investment.
People buy GET units for the guarantee.
But when tuition is going up rapidly and the stock market is tanking, GET units have shown a higher return.
The Legislature hasn’t finalized a state budget, so it hasn’t been determined how much the state’s four-year public colleges and universities will charge this fall.
Washington State University has already decided, however, to increase tuition by no more than 2 percent. Lawmakers have included a variety of tuition plans in their budget proposals, including up to 5 percent increases, but the universities have some freedom to set their own tuition rates despite what the Legislature decides.