September 5, 2001  NR 15-01

Governor Tony Knowles has proclaimed September as “College Savings Month” in Alaska, and he’s urging families to plan ahead for the cost of college attendance, and to take advantage of the University of Alaska College Savings Plan.

“Assisting families, friends, and businesses as they seek to fund the education of our young people is in Alaska’s best interest,” the Governor said in his proclamation. “Government can be an important partner in that effort by maintaining access to postsecondary education for our children, and by encouraging parents to plan ahead for their children’s education.

“With a new college savings plan that promises to be one of the premier programs in the country, the State of Alaska is uniquely poised to help,” Knowles said. “The University of Alaska Savings Program makes it easier and more affordable for families to get a head start toward saving for an education.”

Last year, the legislature passed and Knowles signed into law a measure which created Alaska’s new college savings program. The new program, formerly known as Advance College Tuition, offers Alaskans tax advantaged options for college savings. After January 2002, due to the national tax relief measure, the earnings on these accounts will be tax-free when they are used for qualified educational expenses. Investment options in the Plan include age-based portfolios, static portfolios, and the ACT Portfolio.

The age-based portfolios range from 100% stock portfolios for students who are more than a decade away from college enrollment, to a portfolio with a 20% stock fund/80% bond and money market fund mix for students about to enter college. These portfolios, designed by T. Rowe Price, are managed more conservatively as the child approaches college. For example, portfolios for younger children emphasize stock funds to help protect against inflation then gradually move into bond and money market funds as the child gets closer to entering college.

In addition, the plan includes three static portfolio investment choices, which have stock and bond fund asset allocations that do not change. These include an equity portfolio, a fixed income portfolio and a balanced portfolio.

The ACT portfolio continues to offer investors a balanced portfolio that is guaranteed to grow at least as fast as tuition inflation at the University of Alaska if distributions are used for tuition expenses at UA.
For more information about the University of Alaska College Savings Plan, call 1-866-277-1005 or visit the Web site at www.uacollegesavings.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Linda Milliken, 907-474-5927