AKRON Ohio
Parents who invested in one of the state's college savings funds won't see an increase on that return for two years because of a tuition freeze recently celebrated by lawmakers and university officials.

The Ohio Tuition Trust Authority, which oversees the state's federally qualified Section 529 college savings plan known as College Advantage, offers more than 30 investment options.

One of the options, the Guaranteed Savings Fund, is tied to the weighted average tuition of Ohio's public universities, and because Gov. Ted Strickland signed a two-year operating budget that freezes tuition at those schools, the value of the investment fund will not increase, said Jacqueline Williams, executive director of the tuition authority.

The state began sending letters July 13 notifying investors.

"Investors will not see an increase in the value of their investment for the next two years. But on the other hand, tuition at public universities will not be going up for two years. That is a tremendous benefit," Williams said.

The tuition freeze hailed by Strickland, a Democrat, and Republicans in the state Legislature temporarily halts what had been an average 9 percent annual tuition increase over the past decade that left Ohio's public universities nearly 50 percent more expensive than the national average. The Legislature is pumping an additional $254 million into higher education over two years to support the freeze.

About 70,000 families are in the Guaranteed Savings Fund, but not all have college-aged children, Williams said. About 70 percent use the investment to attend public colleges and 30 percent use it to help pay for private colleges in Ohio or other states.

Mike Stone, an engineer with the Geauga County engineer's office in northeast Ohio, and his wife have invested in the Guaranteed Savings Fund since 1993. They have two sons enrolled at Ohio Northern University, a private school in Ada.