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More than $30,000 awarded to Pennsylvania families
Harrisburg, PA — Treasurer Stacy Garrity today announced the top award winner of this year’s PA 529 Day Promotion held in May. Bradley Getz of Montgomery County won the top award, a $5,290 deposit into the new PA 529 College and Career Savings Program Guaranteed Savings Plan (GSP) account he opened for his daughter.
The funds, which are enough to cover a year’s tuition at a Pennsylvania community college, can be used for his daughter’s future education no matter what career path she chooses to follow – or where she goes to school.
“I’m excited to help the Getz family build their child’s education savings,” Treasurer Garrity said. “PA 529 plans are excellent tools for families who have goals of paying for their child’s future education – whether their child heads to one of Pennsylvania’s great universities or community colleges, seeks out job training or an apprenticeship, or travels to a college across the country. I’m excited about what the future holds for the next generation of Pennsylvanians, and I hope this will inspire more families to start saving today.”
“Winning the PA 529 Day Promotion has been a blessing for my family and specifically my daughter Taylor,” Getz said. “With the constant rise in college costs, it’s important to start investing early for your child’s college education. Even a small monthly contribution adds up after years of investing and the Guaranteed Savings Plan pays for college at today’s cost. The money saved will help reduce the burden and stress that comes with the decision-making process involved in picking which college. The winning money will be put towards good use as my daughter is planning to become a teacher. Thank you, PA Treasury!”
This year’s promotion also included ten regional awards of $2,529 in PA 529 GSP deposits. Regional winners represent Bradford, Centre, Cumberland, Indiana, Luzerne, Montgomery, Schuylkill, Somerset, Warren and Washington counties.
“Saving for my children’s education is very important to me because when I chose to pursue a higher education it resulted in a lot of debt,” said Brittany Moore of Centre County, one of the regional winners. “It’s a heavy burden that I want to free my children of before they even have to consider it. I expect that all of my children will pursue some form of higher education when the time comes and thought adding a 529 plan into the mix would be a great idea.”
PA 529 GSP account owners who opened a new account and contributed at least $10 during May were eligible to win promotional awards. Award deposits totaled more than $30,000 to help boost education savings for Pennsylvania families.
More than 1,000 PA 529 GSP accounts were opened during the month of May, with $14.3 million in contributions made. There are more than 287,000 PA 529 accounts program wide with nearly $7 billion saved.
The PA 529 College and Career Savings Program helps families steadily and strategically save for future educational expenses like tuition, fees, books, equipment, room and board and more at qualifying technical, collegiate and apprenticeship programs. PA 529 plans also offer significant state and federal tax advantages. Also, saving with PA 529 does not impact Pennsylvania state financial aid eligibility.
There are two PA 529 plans, the PA 529 GSP, which allows families to save at today’s tuition rates to meet tomorrow’s tuition costs, and the PA 529 Investment Plan, which allows families to choose from a variety of investment options.
Families with children born in 2019 and after have an automatic $100 Keystone Scholars account to jumpstart their savings. This program uses no taxpayer money. Keystone Scholars accounts can be linked to PA 529 accounts to help families see all their savings together.
Visit pa529.com to learn more about the PA 529 College and Career Savings Program.
STACY GARRITY, STATE TREASURER
Information provided to TVL by:
Samantha Heckel
