If Republican lawmakers in New York have their way, parents of kids as young as, well, as young as possible, could lock in now the price they'll pay eighteen years down the road for college tuition.
The twist? Your kid will have to attend a state or city school.
State lawmakers have proposed a pre-pay tuition program, which will allow parents with kids fourteen and younger to buy "credits," at today's tuition rate that will be redeemable when their kids go to college.
It's tempting. Tuition is ever-increasing. According to the most recent estimates from the College Board, families paid on average from $108 to
$1,398 more for the 2008-09 school year tuition and fees than they did for 2007-08. They even have a handy dandy tuition cost projector on their site to really freak you out.
But my kid is three. I have no idea if she'll want to attend a State University of New York school in fifteen years. Who says she'll even want to stay IN the State of New York? What if she goes private? Or follows my husband's footsteps and attends college online? It seems a little unfair to lock her in to an institution she won't necessarily be happy attending for the sake of a little savings. True, the plan says families would get a full refund, but imagine the guilt trips on these kids: "Well, I saved all this money, and I had it all tied up in the state for fourteen years when I could have had it in an interest-bearing account, and now look what you went and did? So ungrateful . . ."
OK, a lot of savings. But that's what they make scholarships for (as my colleague Brett pointed out, Harvard is offering full rides to smart kids - some of them anyway). And loans - they worked for our president, why can't they work for our kids? Or maybe - and I'm just spit-balling here - the state lawmakers could instead see fit to work on shaving the cost of tuition so it can be affordable for every family and level the playing field for the poor and middle class families?
Image: SayEducate
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