GET in Danger in the Legislature
David Goldstein over at The Stranger Slog lays out the case for the GET (Guaranteed Education Tuition) program. The legislators who are talking it down are - no surprise - some of very legislators who have turned on their own party, Rodney Tom and Steve Litzow along with Ross Hunter. (And, as Goldy points out, some live in some of the most expensive areas of Washington State.)
GET is Washington's prepaid tuition program, a variant of the federally sanctioned tax-free "529 plans." Families buy their children college credits at today's prices, plus a (sometimes hefty) premium, and then cash out in the future, tax free, at the value of the tuition and fees at Washington's most expensive university. One hundred GET units equals a full year of tuition and fees, and the current $172 unit price represents a 39 percent markup over the University of Washington's $12,401 tuition and fees for the 2012-13 academic year. Tuition can't (and won't) keep rising at 20 percent a year forever, so as an investment, GET isn't particularly a very good
GET is Washington's prepaid tuition program, a variant of the federally sanctioned tax-free "529 plans." Families buy their children college credits at today's prices, plus a (sometimes hefty) premium, and then cash out in the future, tax free, at the value of the tuition and fees at Washington's most expensive university. One hundred GET units equals a full year of tuition and fees, and the current $172 unit price represents a 39 percent markup over the University of Washington's $12,401 tuition and fees for the 2012-13 academic year. Tuition can't (and won't) keep rising at 20 percent a year forever, so as an investment, GET isn't particularly a very good