Designing and Implementing a Savings Campaign in TexasRAISE Texas Summit

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas—Houston BranchOctober 29, 2012

Laura Rosen

College Savings in Texas

Texas Tuition Promise Fund (prepaid) & Texas College Savings Plan

Assets Exempt from Public Benefits & State Financial Aid

Texas Save & Match (HB 3708) Targeted for Students in Free &

Reduced Lunch (economically disadvantaged)

Texas Match the Promise Foundation – Platform to accept private (and public) $ to be used for 529 college savings matching grants

Texas 529 Plan Enrollment Barriers

Plan awareness No retail presence State Securities Laws

Only broker-dealers and certified investment advisors can provide enrollment assistance and advice

Nonprofit partners handcuffed in marketing/enrollment role

No default investment option for either plan Some families not ready to overcome these

barriers For families that are…

Match the Promise Scholarships

•Up to $500 match on

tuition unit purchases

•Approximately150 awards

Matching

Scholarship

•$2,000 tuition grant

•5 awards

Promise

Scholarshipwww.matchthepromise.org

Scholarship Application Timeline

Sept.

1-

Decem

ber

31,

2012

•Scholarship Application Period

March

31,

2013

•Scholarship Award Notification

Augus

t 31,

2013

•Scholarship recipients have until this date to meet

contribution requirement

Scholarship Eligibility

Grades - Students in grades 6-9 Account Ownership – Must have a Texas Tuition

Promise Fund account or enroll by 12/31/12 Tx Residency – Must be a Texas resident and a

dependent for tax purposes of a Texas resident Family Income - $75,000 or less Savings Contribution - Minimum $100 contribution to

Promise Fund account during the current sales period – September 1, 2012 – August 31, 2013

Career Essay – Submit 200-300 word essay about the career in which the student is interested

Report Card or Transcript – Submit 2011-12 report card/transcript

Initial Pool – 797 account holders potentially eligible

Marketing the Scholarship: Opportunities & Challenges

No Action Letter from State Securities Board - Allows volunteers to distribute information about the scholarship

Constraints of Match the Promise Foundation Volunteer Instructions “The most a volunteer can do is hand out an information

packet. A volunteer cannot suggest verbally or in writing that a person apply for the Match the Promise program or open a Texas Tuition Promise Fund Account.”

Only registered broker-dealers, an agent of a broker dealer, and investment advisor or an investment advisor representative can assist a person in opening an account.

Social media related to scholarship deadline

Newsletter article Distribute packets, particularly to

partners that serve children in grades 6-9

Ways to Promote the Scholarship

www.matchthepromise.org

Next Steps

Pursue additional policy change to enable 529 enrollment assistance

Engage more systems to raise awareness: Hospitals Schools After-School Programs

Explore alternatives for college savings products to leverage, such as prepaid cards

Evaluate 2012-13 Pilot & Make Recommendations

Use of This Presentation

The Center for Public Policy Priorities encourages you to reproduce and distribute these slides, which were developed for use in making public presentations.

If you reproduce these slides, please give appropriate credit to CPPP.

The data presented here may become outdated.

For the most recent information or to sign up for

our free E-Mail Updates, visit www.cppp.org.

© CPPP

Center for Public Policy Priorities

7020 Easy Wind, Suite 200

Austin, TX 78752

P 512/320-0222 F 512/320-0227