PREPAID TUITION Legislators push program subsidy

About 6,500 families in the Mahoning Valley participate in the program.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Three Democratic legislators are proposing the state subsidize the prepaid college tuition program, recently suspended because the rising cost of tuition is outpacing the investment returns of the fund.
The state subsidy for this year would be $20 million, said state Sen. Marc Dann of Liberty, D-32nd, who proposed the plan today at a press conference in front of Youngstown State University's Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships with state Sen. Eric Fingerhut of Cleveland, D-25th, and state Rep. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-61st.
"The $20 million needed this year is a small amount of the state budget, and is a small amount to help pay for the future education of our children," Dann said.
Determined annually
The subsidy would have to be determined annually based on tuition costs and investment returns, Dann and Fingerhut said.
The Ohio Tuition Trust Authority, of which Dann is a member, voted 7-1 last week to suspend the program for 2004, and to close the program to new investors immediately. Dann was the lone no vote. There are about 135,000 families in Ohio, including about 6,500 in the Mahoning Valley, participating in the program, created in 1990.
The authority suspended the program because tuition increases, and those projected for future years, are growing far beyond the investment returns on money paid into the program by families. The money already paid into the program by participants is guaranteed by the state.
The program allows families to buy one credit for $90 that is equivalent to 1 percent of the tuition cost of one year at a state public university, $9,000 for a full year. The average cost of attending a state public university today is $6,400, but tuition is increasing by about 10 percent annually.
Dann said the bill will be introduced next week in the state Senate.
skolnick@vindy.com