Can I make changes to my contract?

Yes, the Texas Guaranteed Tuition Plan allows the flexibility to meet the changing needs of your family by allowing changes in your prepaid tuition contract. You may change your contract to reduce benefits (such as changing from the Senior College Plan to the Junior College Plan) at any time. Just write the Texas Guaranteed Tuition Plan and ask for this change to a lower priced plan. There is a $50 fee for these plan changes. You can also change payment schedules such as changing from five year to ten year payments.

What are the types of prepaid tuition contracts?

The Texas Guaranteed Tuition Plan offers four plans:

• Junior College Plan
• Senior College Plan
• Junior-Senior College Plan
• Private College Plan

The Junior College Plan allows a person to prepay up to 64 credit hours of tuition and required fees at any public junior or community college in the state. The plan also covers the Texas State Technical Colleges.

The Senior College Plan allows a person to prepay up to 160 credit hours of tuition and required fees at any public senior college or university in the state.

The Junior-Senior College Plan allows a person to prepay up to 64 credit hours of tuition and required fees at any public, community or technical college in the state. In addition, this plan provides prepaid tuition and required fees for any public senior college or university in the state, up to 64 credit hours.

The Private College Plan provides an estimated average private tuition and required fees, as determined by the board each year, and applies this amount toward any of Texas' private or independent colleges for up to 160 credit hours. IMPORTANT: If tuition and required fees at the private college chosen exceed the estimated average, the beneficiary is responsible for the remaining balance. If the college charges are less than the estimated average, the purchaser can request a refund of the difference. Otherwise, only the hours necessary to pay the student's tuition and required fee charges will be deducted from his or her plan.

What payment options are available?

Contract purchasers may choose from several payment options:

• a one-time lump sum payment
• fixed five-year or 10-year periods, paid in monthly installments
• monthly installments until August of the beneficiary's projected high school graduation
• annual installments

Regardless of the payment option, the agreed upon amount at the time of purchase will not change over the life of the contract. Any installment option (monthly or annually) will make the total amount paid into the contract more than the lump sum cost of the contract. You can save money by paying off your account early. To view your early payoff amount please visit our online account access.

When I applied, I chose to have the monthly payments automatically deducted from my bank account or from a payroll deduction. How does this process work so I can make sure that there are no lapses in payments?

The payroll deduction form in your enrollment packets should be taken directly to your payroll office to initiate automatic deduction from your payroll. Depending on the timing of your payroll, payments should be made by check. If you would like payments to automatically be deducted from your bank, please complete the "automatic payment authorization form" included in your enrollment packet and return to our office. You will be notified of the effective date of the draft. Please continue to make payments by check until notified that the draft is effective. You can switch to payroll deduction or bank draft at any time by calling the Texas Guaranteed Tuition Plan. We will send you the necessary forms to make the change or you may print the form from our web site.

What if I want to pay for some of the plan in a lump sum, and some by monthly payments? Is that possible?

Yes. You may purchase a combination of lump sum and monthly payment contracts up to the maximum five years of tuition allowable for each child. For example, a purchaser could buy one to three years of a senior college plan in a lump sum, and the remaining year(s) with a monthly payment option. Since the tuition contracts are sold in one-year increments (32 hours of tuition and fees), you may choose to pay a lump sum for one year and monthly payments for the other three years, or any other increment of one year. If you pay an amount that covers less than one year of tuition and fees, the amount of your monthly payment will not be reduced. The number of payments remaining, however, will be reduced.

What happens if I decide to double my monthly payments, or give you a lump sum of $2,000 or $3,000?

Unless you instruct us to apply extra funds paid to future installment payments due, additional amounts paid will be applied to the principal owed and cause the contract to be paid off sooner than originally scheduled.