Otter, Staben talk about saving for college
University of Idaho Junior Kim Davenport will receive her undergraduate degree from UI debt free, thanks to her own hard work and IDeal, Idaho’s state-sponsored college savings program.
Davenport, along with UI President Chuck Staben, State Treasurer Ron Crane, Idaho First Lady Lori Otter and Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, spoke about the importance of IDeal’s 529 program Thursday, as part of College Savings Month.
IDeal works with Idaho’s State Department of Education and State Board of Education to help raise the state’s higher education enrollment rates. The program offers Idaho families a way to save for college that is tax advantageous. Currently, Crane said there is about $312 million put away for Idaho children in about 25,000 accounts statewide.
Davenport said she is grateful for the program because it has allowed her to study at the school she wanted to attend.
“Ever since I was little, my dad has always told me to save for college,” she said. “And now I understand how beneficial this is. By just putting about $100 a month into my 529 college savings plan that started in 2001, I was seven years old, and over the years that has really grown and helped me finance my college career here.”
Staben, who has previously said enrollment is the university’s No. 1 priority in the coming years, said one of the most effective ways to increase enrollment is by making a college education at UI more affordable.
“There is probably no better investment that a person, or a family can make in the future than higher education for their student,” Staben said. “And (to) plan ahead to do that is incredible.”
Staben said students who participate in the plans are seven times more likely to graduate from college than students who do not.
He said he wholeheartedly supports the 529 program because it’s consistent with the university’s mission to assist students — and their families — in accessing higher education.
“This program, and the programs that we offer, are just one example of how, working together we can all be better,” Staben said. “We can have a better Idaho and a better future for the students of Idaho,”
First Lady Otter said she liked how the program teaches students about how to save for college, and found the program particularly beneficial because it teaches children to save for things they want at a young age.
“When kids learn to pay themselves first, and put that money away and have that accountability and fiscal responsibility for their future, that leads to pretty much every aspect of their life,” she said.
Gov. Otter shared a personal story that honed in on his support of the 529 program. He said even though it was financially impossible for any of his family to go to college, his parents wanted a better life for him and his siblings and encouraged him to go to school. Turns out, Otter was the only one in his family to attend college. But since then, Otter said he has had the honor of watching his children go on to college.
Otter used his story to make the point that every generation must focus on helping the following generation reach a better life.
“Each and every generation focuses on what they can do for the next,” he said. “And a program like 529 helps them focus on that, and is a monthly reminder of the great dream that they have for their family.”
Otter said he is proposing a plan to offer tax benefits to companies with employees who have students in the 529 program. He said specifically, companies would receive tax benefits if they match family contributions to their employees’ 529 accounts.
“It’s something we’re going to have to work on,” Otter said. “But I think that if there’s a will, there’s a way, and I would tell you I have the will to do it.”
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected]