“A fresh look at Washington State’s Guaranteed Education Tuition Program”
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC 202
Start Date
16-5-2013
End Date
16-5-2013
Abstract
Washington State’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program helps parents in planning for their child’s future education. Parents may purchase “units” with 100 units representing the cost of future tuition for one year of college. This is a great program that gives many people the opportunity to attend college, however it is currently underfunded. Our spreadsheet application improves the sustainability of the GET program by allowing increased flexibility for both the state and the user. To use this application one must simply enter the age of their child at the time of first contribution, the anticipated age their child will start college, their anticipated tuition inflation rate, and their desired interest rate. The user can then choose from three funding plans; monthly, yearly, or lump-sum premiums. GET is a self-sustaining program with the Custom Monthly Plan containing a 7.5 percent finance charge based on the total cost of contracted units and is compounded annually over the life of the contract. This spreadsheet application would charge a variable rate tied to prevailing interest rates. GET guarantees that 100 units will fully cover a year of tuition, while our spreadsheet allows the user to choose their desired rate of return thus allowing for a shortfall (to be paid by the user) or an excess (refunded to the user upon graduation). Our application allows users to choose from three payment plans. Lastly our changes neither handicap the state by paying excessive rates nor handicap the user by charging higher premiums.
Recommended Citation
Blanar-Oviatt, Adam and Albrecht, Stacy, "“A fresh look at Washington State’s Guaranteed Education Tuition Program”" (2013). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 12.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2013/oralpresentations/12
Additional Mentoring Department
Actuarial Science
“A fresh look at Washington State’s Guaranteed Education Tuition Program”
SURC 202
Washington State’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program helps parents in planning for their child’s future education. Parents may purchase “units” with 100 units representing the cost of future tuition for one year of college. This is a great program that gives many people the opportunity to attend college, however it is currently underfunded. Our spreadsheet application improves the sustainability of the GET program by allowing increased flexibility for both the state and the user. To use this application one must simply enter the age of their child at the time of first contribution, the anticipated age their child will start college, their anticipated tuition inflation rate, and their desired interest rate. The user can then choose from three funding plans; monthly, yearly, or lump-sum premiums. GET is a self-sustaining program with the Custom Monthly Plan containing a 7.5 percent finance charge based on the total cost of contracted units and is compounded annually over the life of the contract. This spreadsheet application would charge a variable rate tied to prevailing interest rates. GET guarantees that 100 units will fully cover a year of tuition, while our spreadsheet allows the user to choose their desired rate of return thus allowing for a shortfall (to be paid by the user) or an excess (refunded to the user upon graduation). Our application allows users to choose from three payment plans. Lastly our changes neither handicap the state by paying excessive rates nor handicap the user by charging higher premiums.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Yvonne Chueh