State adds options to college savings plan

The reduction in program fees takes effect immediately, while the guaranteed return option is available July 1, Sims said in a statement. Online enrollment is scheduled to be available July 15.

The guaranteed return option ensures an annual return of 2.75 percent.

The Baccalaureate Education System Trust, or BEST, allows anybody to pay for future college tuition for children at today’s prices. Participants buy “units” — one unit is 1/100th of the average annual tuition and mandatory registration fees at Tennessee’s four-year state universities. It would take, for example, an average of 100 units to pay the tuition and registration fees at a typical state university.

Higher tuition schools like the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville would require more units. Although units can be used to pay dormitory and meal plan fees, they are not figured into the price.

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