The prospect of sending a child to college can be daunting for any parent as tuition sticker prices — in many cases totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars over four years — continue their inexorable rise.
One solution for many families has been to enroll in a tuition prepayment program, which allows them to lock in today’s price to pay for their children’s future attendance at participating schools. There’s usually a big drawback, though — tuition prepayment programs are mostly offered by a handful of states and apply only to a state’s public colleges and universities.
But one program — Private College 529 Plan — offers not a handful of options, but almost 300 participating schools. As its name suggests, Private College 529 Plan features only private institutions, but there’s a dazzling variety among them.
“We have large research institutions like Johns Hopkins University, for example, and small liberal arts colleges,” says Joanne Dashiell, chief marketing officer for Private College 529 Plan and its associated website, Collegewell.com. “There really is an option for everyone.” Additionally, unlike state plans, there is no state residency requirement, she says.
Other marquee institutions under the PC529 umbrella include Notre Dame University — the program’s most popular school —Princeton University, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Families gravitate toward the plan because they see fantastic institutions on the list like Notre Dame, USC, Stanford,” Dashiell says. “These are really popular with families participating in Private College 529 Plan.” But these heavy hitters, some of them highly selective and intensely competitive, are not for everyone, Dashiell cautions. And that’s where the incredible variety of PC529P comes in.
“Some students thrive in a large setting, but others really need a small, closer-knit campus environment with a high teacher-student ratio,” she observes “And so, it really depends on the student, and that is something to determine as a student when you get into your sophomore and junior year, and when you start visiting college campuses and you start to get a sense for what might feel right from a setting perspective.”
Families should consider a variety of factors when looking at schools, she says. “How well is the student doing in academics in high school? What sort of classroom environment is working really well for them? These are all types of questions that the student should be asking themselves in conjunction with the family as they are getting closer to senior year and pulling that list of colleges together.”
For families considering saving with Private College 529 Plan, the list of 293 participating schools can be overwhelming. But PC529 just rolled out a new search tool on its Collegewell site that uses filters to narrow down the choices. Filters include academic program type, state, school size and setting.
Dashiell notes the search tool on Collegewell.com is easy for families to use. For example, suppose a son or daughter has a particular academic interest, she says. Parents can search participating schools based on the program majors they offer, how close they are to their home, acceptance rate, or another setting that might help their children succeed.
The family may be surprised by what they find, Dashiell continues. “Sure, everybody’s heard of MIT. But maybe they haven’t heard of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, a consistently top-ranked undergraduate engineering college, which could be a fantastic opportunity for a student, but they haven’t ever been exposed to that institution before.”
To illustrate the wide variety of smaller schools that can serve students’ special interests in a more intimate setting, Dashiell offered five examples: Bard College, Colorado College, Muhlenberg College, Reed College and Spelman College.
Bard College
Set on a 2,000-acre campus in Annandale on Hudson, New York, with an enrollment of a little under 2,000 undergraduate students, Bard College is known for its customizable academic programs and immersive senior projects, Dashiell says.
“Students who are particularly interested in liberal arts and civic engagement are gravitating there,” she says. “The senior project is designed to be a culmination of all of their academic experience, to tap into a topic within environmental and urban studies that the student is really passionate about.”
Senior Project preparation starts in junior year, according to the Bard College website. Coursework, seminars and meetings with advisers are directed toward developing a deeper understanding of the student’s interests. Juniors submit a senior project proposal describing a topic that is the basis for the project and including a possible research question, an explanation of how the project is interdisciplinary, and a list of potential faculty advisers. “It’s a very immersive learning experience,” Dashiell says. “It’s a really exciting experience for the right student.”
Colorado College
With an undergraduate enrollment of just over 2,000 students and a 1,000-acre campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado College offers an innovative block-plan learning experience where students study one subject at a time, Dashiell says.
“They have very small class sizes and a high faculty-to-student ratio, and these unique block programs, eight blocks per academic year, so eight courses a year. They study just one class for three and a half weeks at a time,” she says. “It’s an immersive experience. And they’re doing this in a small group setting and studying a topic that they’re passionate about — their academic major — diving into that subject.”
Muhlenberg College
Known for its Theatre Program, Muhlenberg College features undergraduate enrollment of less than 2,000 at an urban campus in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “For students who are interested in theatre, check out Muhlenberg,” Dashiell says. “You can study many different areas within their larger Theatre Program, including designing and playwriting. It’s not just about acting and production.”
According to the school’s website, “With its emphasis on exploration and collaboration, the Theatre Program at Muhlenberg serves as excellent preparation for a career in theatre — or a career anywhere else.” The program is designed to provide a thorough background in the history, theory and literature of performance. Small class sizes allow for personalized instruction, and students are encouraged to participate in the department’s productions ranging from intimate dramas to Broadway-style musicals, according to the website.
Reed College
Situated in Portland, Oregon, Reed College is a small liberal arts school known for unusual academic offerings, including Humanities 110.
“The humanities program at Reed really, really stands out,” Dashiell says. “They describe themselves as a transformative liberal arts experience.”
For example, Humanities 110 serves as a foundational writing fundamentals course where students learn the basics of good writing, including expressing ideas in compelling and persuasive language, Dashiell says. “If that’s what a student is looking for — to study in a really immersive experience in humanities starting from day one — this could be a really interesting opportunity for them,” she says.
Spelman College
Also on Dashiell’s list of smaller schools showcasing Private College 529 Plan’s diversity is Spelman College. The school is an HCBU, or historically black college/university that was founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary. “Spelman is a global leader in educating women of African descent,” Dashiell says. “It has been the No. 1 institution for students who are looking for historically a black college or university for females.”
With a student body of more than 2,100 students from 43 states and 10 foreign nations, Spelman “empowers women to engage the many cultures of the world and inspires a commitment to positive social change through service,” according to the school’s website.
She’s a PC529P Parent
As a parent with two children enrolled in the Private College 529 Plan savings program, Dashiell appreciates the wide range of options that it affords her two children — her daughter, 11, in sixth grade, and son, 15, who’s a sophomore in high school.
As Private College 529 Plan recommends, Dashiell’s family has opened PC529P accounts for each child, as well as traditional 529 savings accounts. Private College 529 Plan funds may be used only to pay for tuition.
“I’m locking in tuition at those nearly 300 private colleges across the country, but they each also have their own 529 investment account, and we use our state’s plan for that. I’m saving for other education expenses like food and housing and books and supplies, etc.,” she says. “It’s a nice, balanced way to save, because I have my investment accounts, and I also have locked-in tuition that isn’t tied to market performance.”
Account Transfers and Refunds
For parents who worry about locking their children into a savings program for private colleges alone, Dashiell notes that PC529 offers flexibility, including account transfers and refunds. “You could always change the beneficiary and still retain that locked-in prepaid tuition for a different sibling to take advantage of,” she says.
“Or you could take a refund and get up to 2% compounded annually on top of your account contributions. And then you could roll that into your state-sponsored 529 plan. Or you could take that refund and use it to pay education expenses directly,” Dashiell says. “And as long as it’s used for qualified education expenses, there’s no taxes or penalties on the earnings.”
Fighting Tuition Inflation
The main goal of participating in PC529 is to reduce exposure to tuition inflation. “Tuition has been increasing significantly,” Dashiell says. “In 2022, for example, at one institution on our list, tuition went up 7%, and at another it went up 10%.”
On average, families are contributing between $40,000 and $50,000 to their child’s Private College 529 Plan account, she says.
Contributions made within the plan year — from July 1 to June 30 — lock in the current year’s tuition rates on a percentage basis at all participating schools. “So, for example, if you contributed $10,000 in one plan year,” Dashiell explains, “that would lock in a quarter of tuition at one of our institutions where the current year’s tuition is $40,000, and it would lock in a third of a year of tuition at an institution where the current year is $30,000.”
Private College 529 Plan is operated by the participating colleges and universities, which all shoulder the responsibility of honoring the program’s tuition commitment, she says.
“Affordability, of course, is top of mind. That is the No. 1 factor for many families,” Dashiell says. “And so, they are beginning this college search, and they are very much — more so now than before — focused on ROI (return on investment).”
She adds that families shouldn’t dismiss private schools from consideration based on “sticker price” — the publicly listed price for tuition and other expenses. “What they are not recognizing or understanding is that the majority of families do not pay that price,” thanks to financial aid, which is often greater at private schools. “For many families, a private college education can even be less expensive than their local public college or university when financial aid opportunities are factored into the equation.”
Dashiell advises parents to go into the college planning process with as many college choices that are both a good financial and academic fit. “And of course, one of the best ways to give yourself more options for college, is to take advantage of time. For younger parents, this means saving early and often.”
In a four-decade career in journalism, Ed Prince has served as an editor with many of New Jersey’s leading newspapers, including the Star-Ledger, Asbury Park Press and Home News.