The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Olympia—Washington State’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program opens Sunday, November 1, for a new enrollment period, providing families a fresh opportunity to start saving for future college costs while their children are young. The 2020-2021 enrollment period runs through May 31, 2021, with a unit purchase price of $133.

As a 529 prepaid tuition program, the State of Washington guarantees that a family’s GET savings will keep pace with in-state college tuition and state-mandated fees. While Washington tuition rates are the basis for GET account values, students have the freedom to follow their ambitions wherever they choose. Students can use their GET accounts at nearly any public or private university, community college, or technical school in the country. New this year, GET and other 529 plans can also be used to pay for apprenticeship programs and certain student loan repayments.

The GET program opened in 1998, and since then, thousands of Washington families have saved billions of dollars towards their students’ future higher education expenses. To date, GET has distributed over $1.2 billion to more than 55,000 students who have used their GET accounts to attend college in all 50 states and 15 countries worldwide.

GET is one of two college savings options offered by Washington College Savings Plans (WA529). In addition, to GET, WA529 also offers the country’s newest investment-based 529 plan, DreamAhead. Launched in 2018, DreamAhead has already received national recognition and high marks from investment research firm Morningstar, Inc., who released its 2020 529 plan ratings this week. Morningstar awarded DreamAhead a Bronze medal in its review, pointing out competitive fees and a solid investment lineup that it says “will serve Washingtonians well.”

“Families often ask us when they should start saving for future college costs,” says Washington College Savings Plans director, Luke Minor. “Our response is simple: ‘It’s never too early to get started.’”

WA529’s freshly redesigned website (wastate529.wa.gov) offers details, charts, planning tools, and answers for families’ questions about the programs. Washington residents who want to help a student save for future education costs can open a GET or DreamAhead account online with no enrollment fee. The GET contact center staff is ready to help at 800-955-2318 or GETInfo@wsac.wa.gov. For questions about DreamAhead, the DreamAhead contact center can be reached at (844)529-5845.