Stevens helps pioneer new plan to help keep future tuitions low

HOBOKEN, N.J. - In a move designed to help parents and their college-bound students, Stevens Institute of Technology has become a founding member of the widely anticipated Independent 529 Plan. The first of its kind for private higher education, the plan is sponsored by private colleges themselves, and it gives families the chance to put away money for future college expenses at today's prices.

The plan is an outgrowth of the Tuition Plan Consortium, a group of more than 200 of the nation's private colleges. As a member institution, Stevens joins with Princeton, Vanderbilt, Carnegie Mellon, Rice and many other prestigious universities in the consortium.

Like its better known state-sponsored cousins, the Independent 529 Plan helps families lock in today's tuition prices for tomorrow and put funds toward future tuition. But where the state savings plans invest the funds and hope that they grow enough over time to pay for college, funds in the Independent 529 Plan go to actually prepay tuition and one of 200 private colleges in the consortium. Thus, the plan has no investment risk or management fees for the contributing family member. Parents can get started with contributions as low as $25 a month.

The plan allows a family member to purchase a certificate for part or all of tuition that can be used at any participating college. Years later, the certificate for the guaranteed amount of tuition is redeemed, no matter how much colleges are charging at the time a new freshman begins classes.

"We are proud to be a founding member of this new and important cost-saving plan, and to respond in a substantive way to the national call to make higher education more affordable and accessible. This is especially important at a time when many families are understandably alarmed about the tuition price tags they may face in the future," said Maureen Weatherall, Vice President for University Enrollment and Academic Services at Stevens.

Investment management for the plan is handled by TIAA-CREF, the financial services organization specializing in money management for the education market. Stevens was integrally involved in the early formation of TIAA-CREF in the early 1900s.

For more information on the plan, please visit its website at independent529plan.org. or call 1-888-718-7878.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870 and celebrating 140 Years of Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University TM , lives at the intersection of industry, academics and research.  The University's students, faculty and partners leverage their collective real-world experience and culture of innovation, research and entrepreneurship to confront global challenges in engineering, science, systems and technology management.

Based in Hoboken, N.J. and with a location in Washington, D.C., Stevens offers baccalaureate, master’s, certificates and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences and management, in addition to baccalaureate degrees in business and liberal arts.  Stevens has been recognized by both the US Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security as a National Center of Excellence in the areas of systems engineering and port security research. The University has a total enrollment of more than 2,200 undergraduate and 3,700 graduate students with almost 450 faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as strategic partnerships with industry leaders, governments and other universities around the world.  Additional information may be obtained at www.stevens.edu and www.stevens.edu/press.