Prepaid Tuition Program
Protect against rising college costs by locking in a percentage of today’s tuition at 70+ colleges in MA
What is the U.Plan?
The U.Plan is the Massachusetts prepaid tuition plan that allows you to pay for tomorrow’s tuition and mandatory fees at today’s rates.
Financial Peace of Mind
Your money in the U.Plan is invested in bonds, which means it’s not subject to market fluctuations.
A Breadth of Options
Over 70 public and private colleges and universities in Massachusetts participate in the U.Plan program
Flexible & Easy
If your child doesn’t attend a participating school, you’ll receive your savings back with interest and no penalty
Tax-Advantaged
All U.Plan earnings are exempt from Massachusetts and federal income tax.
How It Works
First, you’ll need to open a U.Plan account. Do so by completing these simple steps:
Designate Participants
You’ll need to create a User ID and Password and then fill in the personal information for the Owner, the person who will have control over the account, such as the child’s parent, the Beneficiary, the child who will benefit from the account savings, and the Successor Owner, the person who will take over the account if the Owner passes away.
Select Maturity Year(s)
The maturity years are the years during which the Beneficiary will attend college and you will use your U.Plan funds. You can save for one maturity year or several. You’ll need to also decide the percentage of your investment you’ll want applied to each year.
Make a Contribution
You can add to your account by check or make a transfer from your bank. You can also set up automatic contributions to occur on a regular basis. All your U.Plan savings qualify you for a MA state income tax deduction.
Finalize Your Account
As your final step, you’ll need to review your summary and disclousers, and then hit Submit.
Save All Year
You can add funds to your U.Plan account throughout the year whenever you’d like. You’ll need to save at least $300 over the course of the year to participate in the tuition lock-in. And you can save through your child’s sophomore year in high school (as your savings need 5 years to mature after you invest).
Tuition Certificate Purchase
On July 15th of each year, your contributions from the last 12 months will be used to purchase Tuition Certificates that cover a percentage of tuition and mandatory fees at participating colleges and universities in Massachusetts. You’ll lock in that percentage, which means even if the cost of tuition increases, your Tuition Certificates will still cover the same percentage.
Next Year’s Saving
Beginning each August 2nd, you can begin contributing again to your U.Plan account for your Tuition Certificates to be purchased the following July 15th.
Participating Colleges
With the U.Plan, you don’t need to choose a school ahead of time! You’ll designate your savings to a college right in your account once it’s time for your child to attend, and we’ll send those funds over to the school electronically. Over 70 undergraduate colleges and universities in Massachusetts participate in the U.Plan, meaning you have plenty of options for your child’s future education.
Out-of-Network Schools
If your child decides to attend a college out of the U.Plan network, no problem. You’ll still receive your savings back, with interest calculated at CPI, and no penalty.
Participating Schools
With over 70 participating schools, of all sizes and types, students with U.Plan savings can find a college that fits them best.
*The tuition and fee amounts listed are for the academic year 2023-2024 as reported by the institution and should only be used to help you estimate your purchase amount. The actual percentage for Tuition Certificates purchased during this enrollment period will be based on tuition and mandatory fees for the 2025-2026 academic year, which have not yet been set by the participating colleges and universities. You will receive an annual statement in the fall that confirms the percentage of tuition and fees you have locked in at the participating schools.
Refer to U.Plan Offering Statement for the full details of the Program.
Disclosures
“The value to me as a parent of saving in the U.Plan cannot be overstated. Having the peace of mind to know that, despite the rising cost of college, I had a percentage of future tuition prepaid, was huge.”