Private College 529 Plan

Tomorrow’s tuition at today’s prices—guaranteed

October 16, 2010

Dickinson is proud to be a member of the Private College 529 Plan (formerly the Independent 529 Plan), the only nationally sponsored plan that is owned by the participating schools to help families control the cost of tuition and avoid market risk.

Dickinson’s participation in the Private College 529 Plan reflects its ongoing commitment to keeping a quality liberal-arts education within reach. The Plan enables parents to “lock in” future tuition at today’s price, and it is the only plan that offers a guarantee against rising tuition prices and market risk while giving students the flexibility to choose from some of the nation’s top private colleges and universities.

The Private College 529 Plan allows families to prepay tuition today and use it later at any of the more than 270—and growing—list of participating private colleges and universities. Parents who prepurchase tuition essentially freeze the tuition price during the year of investment. Member schools guarantee that tuition price for up to 30 years—no matter how much tuition increases or what happens in the financial markets. Tuition can be prepaid for any school in the plan’s nationwide network without choosing a specific institution until the student is ready for college.

The plan is designed as a prepurchase of tuition and not as an investment so that all of the risk rests with the members institutions—not the families. This approach also leaves no question about what the contributions will be worth in the future. Parents can contribute with confidence knowing that 100 percent of their payment goes toward purchasing tuition. Member institutions pay all the costs of administering and operating the Plan so there are no start up, maintenance or annual fees—and like other 529 plans, it is free from federal taxes.

In addition to Dickinson, other national college and university participants in the Private College 529 Plan include Amherst, Middlebury, Skidmore, Vassar, Kenyon and Smith colleges, the University of Richmond, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Duke and American and Vanderbilt universities.

For information about Dickinson’s Private College 529 Plan, contact David Walker, associate vice president and associate treasurer 717-245-1010.

Get more detailed information about the Private College 529 Plan.