AKRON Ohio
Parents who invested in one of the state’s college savings
funds won’t see an increase on that return for two years because of a tuition
freeze recently celebrated by lawmakers and university officials.
The Ohio Tuition Trust Authority, which oversees the state’s
federally qualified Section 529 college savings plan known as College
Advantage, offers more than 30 investment options.
One of the options, the Guaranteed Savings Fund, is tied to
the weighted average tuition of Ohio’s public universities, and because Gov.
Ted Strickland signed a two-year operating budget that freezes tuition at those
schools, the value of the investment fund will not increase, said Jacqueline
Williams, executive director of the tuition authority.
The state began sending letters July 13 notifying investors.
“Investors will not see an increase in the value of
their investment for the next two years. But on the other hand, tuition at
public universities will not be going up for two years. That is a tremendous
benefit,” Williams said.
The tuition freeze hailed by Strickland, a Democrat, and
Republicans in the state Legislature temporarily halts what had been an average
9 percent annual tuition increase over the past decade that left Ohio’s
public universities nearly 50 percent more expensive than the national average.
The Legislature is pumping an additional $254 million into higher education
over two years to support the freeze.
