Anybody out there currently saving for a college education would find today's article pretty interesting, I think.

And I love that I'm becoming the master at translating indiscernible legislative jargon into English for the public!*


*(And by me, I mean Ron my editor - who's translated at least three of my verbal-vomit creations into something intelligible. Whenever I've spewed something particularly jargony and horrendous onto the page, the editing gods somehow know to pair me up with Ron. It's providence. Ron probably wants to jump out the window when he sees me coming at this point.)

Yesterday I brushed shoulders with Teddy Kennedy after an immigration hearing. The years have not been kind to ol' Ted. Actually, Ted has not been kind to ol' Ted. The poor guy hobbles more than he walks, all hunched-over. I was tempted to do my "I-yer-uh, hev no recollection of Chappaquidick" impersonation, but thought it wise to refrain.

Anyways, back to college. Or lack thereof, the way costs are skyrocketing. Good thing I'm going into journalism...

Oh, and by the way you can find reason #342 of why I love writing for a Santa Barbara paper today on the News-Press's homepage. (I wonder if she's heard of me?)

Truly, it is God's Country.

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Bill would extend tax-free college savings plans

5/18/05
By DICKIE CRONKITE
NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT


WASHINGTON -- With college costs growing faster than inflation, two lawmakers introduced a bill on Tuesday to extend permanently the four-year-old program of tax-free savings accounts for higher education.

The bill covers the so-called 529 plans, college savings accounts given tax-free status in 2001. The accounts' tax exemption will expire in 2010 unless the program is extended.

In Santa Barbara County, there were 779 of these savings accounts on Dec. 31, 2004, with $17 million in assets, according to Nick Papas of the California State Treasurer's Office.

Reps. Melissa Hart, R-Pa., and Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., want to make the tax-exempt status permanent. Ms. Hart said this would help alleviate account holders' fears that they would have to pay taxes on funds withdrawn after 2010.

"I can't imagine any parent not feeling that these types of programs are worthwhile," said Beverly Smith, whose daughter LaTonia attends the University of Richmond and is helped by a 529 plan set up after her father was diagnosed with cancer.

"The private school that my daughter attends now, tuition grew 17 percent to something around $40,000 a school year," Ms. Smith said.

"You can't afford not to do something for your kids, and the government can't afford not to do something to help us."


According to the National Association of State Treasurers, 7 million children have a 529 account set up in their names. That represents $67 billion in federally tax-exempt savings nationally.

In California, there are more than 154,000 accounts worth more than $1.4 billion. Since 1999, some 3,500 state residents have used nearly $40 million for tuition.

Since the accounts began in Michigan and Florida in the late 1980s, all the states created programs to take advantage of the 529 accounts.


Dickie Cronkite writes for Medill News Service from Washington, D.C.