SAVING FOR COLLEGE

One of the newest ways to savefor college is the Independent 529plan, which lets parents buy a pieceof future college tuition at a discount.The program is scheduled tolaunch in September 2003 and willinclude about 200 colleges. Underthe plan, parents can buy a discountedcertificate guaranteed topay a fixed percentage of tuition atany of the schools in the consortium,regardless of what the tuition fees arewhen their child attends. The percentagewill vary depending on thecurrent cost of tuition at the school.When a student enrolls at a participatingcollege, the school will providethe promised percentage oftuition and parents will pay noincome tax on the funds whenthey're used. For more information,go to www.independent529plan.org.