Guaranteed Education Tuition, commonly known as GET, is Washington’s 529 pre-paid tuition plan.
Simply stated GET is a college savings plan. GET has been helping Washington families save for college tuition for over 15 years. Families who started saving when their children were in grade school are now covering their college expenses through their GET college savings plans.
The Campbell’s are an example of how a family uses the GET program. “We used GET units purchased when our daughter was in elementary school to pay for her tuition. Thanks to Running Start, she graduated in three years so she still has GET units left over for graduate school. What a great gift for a child, to be able to graduate from college without having to use student loans,” shared the Campbell family..
How GET works is straight forward, using a unit system. Units are a form of measurement specific to GET and are not to be confused with or equated to a college credit hour or a share of stock.
Units are particular to GET. The cost of one GET unit today is $172. The future value of 100 units is equal to one year of resident, undergraduate tuition and required state fees at the highest-priced Washington public university no matter how much tuition increases. Families can buy any amount from 1 to 500 units per student.
For example, if you had a newborn today and purchased 100 lump sum units ($17,200) then when your child is ready for college those 100 units could potentially be worth nearly $36,000 based on current actuarial projections. And your GET account is guaranteed to keep pace with rising tuition costs as the value is based on the units regardless of how much tuition increases. This means you can pay a lower price now for future, more expensive tuition.
For more information on the GET program or how to enroll go to the GET website, call 800-955-2318 or email GETInfo@wsac.wa.gov.
Enrollment is open through May 31.
