CLEVELAND — Roshonda Smith’s teenage daughter means the world to her.
“We are just two peas in a pod,” she said. “She’s an amazing daughter and has just been a blessing to my entire family.”
This is why it’s no surprise that once her daughter was born, she began putting aside money into a 529 plan, a state-sponsored college tuition savings plan.
“Now, over the course of 17 years, my daughter just graduated from high school, and it really has been helpful to just have that nest egg set aside just to help as we are navigating, just like many, many other families, the exorbitant cost of college tuition,” she said.
However, the current state of economy is proving concerning for many parents.
“If you go back whenever COVID came on in March of (2020), those were some of the darkest days of the stock market in March of (2020),” said Tim Gorrell, executive director of Ohio’s 529 plans. “If people pulled out, they really missed an opportunity because come April (2020), those were some of the best performing days in the market. You can’t speculate on the market or what it’s going to do.”
He said people should not panic.
“While we’re in these times of high inflation, high interest rates, stock market turbulence, the market always comes out of it,” he said. “If you go back and look at critical events throughout our history, the market always rebounds and people are happy with the outcome.”
Smith said the 529 plan is helpful.
“It’s not supposed to be the end all, be all,” she said. “It is just supposed to be another way to allow your family to use some tools that will help with the cost of college tuition, higher education.”
Gorrell said The Cleveland Guardians and Ohio’s 529 Plan, CollegeAdvantage, have teamed up to help Cleveland-area families to hit a home run for their higher education goals this summer.
The partnership is scheduled to give away a $10,000 college savings award to open or add to a CollegeAdvantage Direct 529 Plan and help families with their college saving goals.
To enter, Gorrell said to visit CollegeAdvantage.com/Guardians. You can enter once per day, per email address. This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18.
