Enrolls Thousands of Future College Students
(AUSTIN) Nearly 13000 children enrolled in the Texas Tuition Promise Fund during its first annual enrollment period Texas Comptroller Susan Combs announced today. More than $239 million in prepaid college tuition contracts were sold from Sept. 1 2008 to Feb. 28 2009.
The first enrollment period for the new Texas Tuition Promise Fund has ended and it was a tremendous success" Combs said. Texas families welcomed the opportunity to take some of the uncertainty out of college planning by locking in their childrens college tuition and required fees at todays prices and prepaying those expenses before the children are ready for college."
Texas Tuition Promise Fund enrollment is now closed until September 2009; however newborns (children under the age of one year) may be enrolled in the program through July 31 at the current contract prices. Also families who opened accounts during the enrollment period may add additional tuition units at current contract prices through Aug. 31 2009. New sales prices that will be based on 2009-2010 academic year costs for Texas public colleges and universities will be in effect when the next enrollment period begins Sept. 1 2009.
The Texas Tuition Promise Fund provides families a variety of purchasing options and payment plans to prepay undergraduate tuition and required fees at schools ranging from public community colleges to four-year state universities.
Even in these challenging economic times the Texas Tuition Promise Fund gives families flexible affordable options to fit college savings into their budgets whether it is for a four-year degree or for technical training at a community college which is all that many well-paying in-demand jobs require" Combs said.
The U.S. Department of Education estimates about 80 percent of the fastest-growing occupations in the near future will require some postsecondary training but not a bachelors degree. In 2007 more than 80 percent of all Texas jobs did not require a bachelors degree. Neither did nearly 44 percent of the jobs paying wages above the state average."
Until Texas Tuition Promise Fund enrollment re-opens in September Combs Web site Every Chance Every Texan" will remain available to help families plan for college. The Web site at
www.EveryChanceEveryTexan.org offers information on careers that will be in demand in the future and the levels of education required for various fields. It also includes tools to help families calculate college costs.
