Education Trust of Alaska reaches new fund goal

July 30, 2021

The Education Trust of Alaska (ETA) offers Alaska’s three 529 education savings programs – Alaska 529 marketed to Alaska residents, the T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan marketed nationally directly to investors, and the John Hancock Freedom 529 marketed nationally through investment advisors.  On July 2, 2021, the Education Trust of Alaska’s assets under management for these plans reached $11 billion, growing by $1 billion in less than 7 months! Not only has investment performance been strong, new accounts are up significantly in the past 18 months. More information can be found at www.educationtrustak.com. 

In April, the ETA celebrated 20 years offering these 529 plans.  In that time, 500,000 beneficiaries have taken $5.1 billion in distributions to support their education goals.  

The ETA recently launched a new recruitment initiative which provides quarterly communications to approximately 50,000 high school-age plan beneficiaries living outside Alaska to increase awareness of UA, its programs and the benefits offered by the ETA.  The organization is currently sending out travel posters of Alaska, care packages, personalized luggage tags, and other goodies to encourage high school students to enroll in post-secondary education in Alaska.  

Even throughout the pandemic, the Alaska 529 team has worked hard to stay visible and active in the community through sponsorships, scholarships and limited events.  The team is happy to announce that it has defended its title for Best Non-Commercial Float at the Golden Days Reverse Parade on July 24th!

The office is currently recruiting for two Program Specialists – one in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks.  Take a look at careers.alaska.edu to see if joining the team might be the perfect move for your career.