Price of prepaid tuition in Washington going up

SEATTLE — The board that oversees the prepaid tuition program in Washington is likely to hike the price parents pay to send children to college in the future.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that briefing papers for today’s meeting suggest an increase of 18 percent to 82 percent.

The price for the Guaranteed Education Tuition program needs to rise to match tuition increases approved by the Legislature and to offset slumping investments.

GET allows parents to buy units that will cover tuition in the future. Every 100 units equal a year’s tuition. The current price is $76 per unit.

About 106,000 children have been signed up since the program began in 1998. About 6,000 have used it. The average age of children in the program is 7.

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