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Canton Family Wins $1,529 Toward College Tuition in Michigan Education Trust Sweepstakes
Canton Family Wins $1,529 Toward College Tuition in Michigan Education Trust Sweepstakes
June 6, 2017
When they were in college, Matt Morawski and Sarah Mayberry Morawski were beneficiaries of Michigan Education Trust (MET) contracts that paid for their tuition.
Today, they’re still benefiting from MET, the 529 prepaid college tuition program administered by the Michigan Department of Treasury. The Canton couple won the grand prize of $1,529 worth of prepaid tuition in Thursday’s MET 529 Awareness Week Sweepstakes drawing, which drew nearly 1,000 entries statewide.
It’s money that Matt says is much appreciated as they continue to build college savings for their three children: Addy, 7, William, 5, and Jack, 1.
“With three kids, college is a big fear of mine,” he said. “We’ve just kind of been setting money aside for college and deciding exactly what to do with it.”
Matt called the sweepstakes prize of a $1,529 MET Pay-As-You-Go contract “a perfect plan for us.”
MET’s Pay-As-You-Go option – introduced in December 2015 – allows purchasers to buy contracts by credit hours rather than in semester increments, lowering the initial cost of establishing a MET contract and eliminating a potential hurdle for some families.
Another key Pay-As-You-Go feature is that it leaves the contract open to additional contributions, unlike a regular lump-sum purchase, which is closed and cannot be added to in the future. Once they purchase the initial credit hour, Pay-As-You-Go contract holders can make additional contributions in increments as small as $25, and friends and family members can also contribute to the contract.
Matt and Sarah, who both work as producers at Detroit television station WDIV, were already well aware of MET’s general benefits. MET contracts purchased by their families covered their undergrad tuition – Matt at Wayne State University and Sarah at the University of Michigan.
As a result, unlike many of their friends and classmates, they finished their undergraduate degrees without going deep into debt, Matt said.
More information about MET is available at www.SETwithMET.com or 800-MET-4-KID.
About MET
MET is Michigan’s Section 529 prepaid tuition program that locks future tuition at any of the state’s public universities and colleges at today’s rates. The total contract price is eligible for a state tax deduction, and earnings are tax-exempt if used for qualified higher education expenses. MET contract refunds can be used at out-of-state and Michigan private colleges and universities, or contracts may be transferred to other eligible family members. More than 96 percent of high school graduates with MET contracts have attended a college or university.
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