Monday, September 21, 2009

More than 100 parents and grandparents concerned about the condition of the state’s Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program met in Mobile on Sunday to hear lawmakers and candidates discuss ways the keep the plan alive.

Many in the crowd that met at the Mobile Gas Auditorium agreed with Ian Gaston, a Mobile resident who purchased a contract four years ago for his grandson who is now 8.

“We paid for this four years ago,” Gaston said. “I want him to get four years’ worth of tuition. … That’s what we paid for. I paid in advance for four years worth of college for my grandson, and that’s what I want. They can take it out of whose ever pot they want. It’s all the state of Alabama. It doesn’t make any difference to me.”

Save Alabama PACT, the sponsor of Sunday’s meeting, is a statewide organization of program participants and their supporters who are working to get state leaders to honor the more than 48,000 contracts in the state’s prepaid college tuition program.

Organizers said they hope the state Legislature intervenes to help get the program back on its feet after money was lost in the economic downturn. Patti Lambert, state president of the group, encouraged contract holders to view the group’s Web site, www.savealabamapact.com, as well as contact their respective legislators about the program.

“This was the only thing in my lifetime that I thought was a guarantee,” said Lambert of Decatur, who has purchased six plans for her grandchildren. “I just want the education for my grandchildren that I paid for.”

The program did not experience major problems until the stock market plunge caused the investments to lose about half their value. Tuition costs also started growing faster than anticipated. A recent study estimated that millions of dollars are needed to make good on the tuition contracts.

“This was a perfect storm that hit the PACT program as well as hit the stock market,” said former state Treasurer George C. Wallace Jr., who co-founded the program nearly 20 years ago.

PACT is managed through the state treasurer’s office.

Wallace, a Republican who served as state treasurer from 1986-1994 and plans to enter the 2010 race for state treasurer, said that the best option for the program will be to spend about $52 million annually to fund the program, but that the money should not come from the Education Trust Fund.

State Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, told the crowd that he is committed to making the program work.

“I am 100 percent committed to see that we find a solution to live up to our PACT commitment,” Brooks said.

“No one elected official, no candidate for state treasurer, no candidate for governor alone can save PACT,” said Jeremy Sherer, a Democratic candidate for treasurer.

Lambert said that the PACT board has only agreed to pay tuition for this fall semester, and the Spring 2010 semester with the state Legislature to determine the program’s future.