FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Carissa Mattern, MA, DCJ(c) mary.washington@senate.state.md.us 443-417-5404
STATEMENT BY SENATOR MARY WASHINGTON REGARDING THE MARYLAND PREPAID COLLEGE TRUST
ANNAPOLIS, MD (January 24, 2023) – Senator Mary Washington (D-43), a member of the Maryland Senate Education, Energy and Environment Committee, has issued the following statement following yesterday’s Senate briefing by officials with the embattled Maryland Prepaid College Trust program:
Yesterday’s briefing in the Senate on the Maryland Prepaid College Trust fiasco was profoundly disturbing. It is now clearer than ever that the leadership of the College Savings Plans of Maryland has no idea of the extent of the crisis. They have no timetable for a satisfactory resolution and, perhaps worst of all, continue to operate with no sense of urgency or empathy for the families whose lives have been disrupted by their incompetence.
As the senator who represents several of our state’s most acclaimed colleges and universities, I am calling today for three steps to be taken immediately. First and foremost, given the fact that the Plan was operating with a program surplus of $355.6 million as of June 30, 2022, I am calling for funds to be taken out of program surplus and disbursed to the families who are facing either delinquent or pending bills for tuition and fees, or who have already made alternative arrangements to satisfy their obligations. This is their money, not ours. This is a step that should have already been taken, and it must be done now.
Furthermore, I am calling for Attorney General Anthony Brown and his office to initiate an investigation into the longstanding administrative and management practices at the College Savings Plans of Maryland, including the involvement of former and current Board members–both to understand the order of magnitude of what we are dealing with in totality, and to determine whether the longstanding administrative disarray within the College Savings Plans of Maryland are merely a matter of organizational incompetence and nothing more.
Finally, I believe the General Assembly and relevant committees should undertake a comprehensive study of the long-term viability of the Prepaid College Trust Program. This study should include consideration of the potential advantages, challenges and logistics of dismantling this program altogether and transferring the value of shareholder accounts into the Maryland College Investment Plan.
We need to move fast, and we need to be thorough. Maryland’s families, and the dreams and aspirations of our children who have worked so hard to achieve their dreams, lie in the balance.
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