Is this good news? - Updated

Assets in college savings plans grow 2.1%

Assets in Wisconsin's state-sponsored college saving programs grew 2.1% in the third quarter to stand at $2.195 billion, according to data from the State Treasurer's office. Of that total, $1.229 billion was in 138,790 EdVest accounts with the rest in 90,583 Tomorrow's Scholar accounts. (By Avrum D. Lank)

First, I do hope that our Treasurer is as good with the balance sheets of billion dollar education investments as she was with balancing her Boston Store cash drawer each night.

Now just for fun, let me do some cyphering. 2.1% in the 3rd quarter is around 8-1/2% growth in a year. Not a bad return for these conservative investments. That may just keep enough ahead of inflation for these families to have substantial nest eggs when junior heads off to college ...........

Er, sratch that.

Data point #1: UW-Madison 2006-2007 Tuition $6,730.24

Data point #2: UW-Madison 2007-2008 Tuition $7,188.40

A tuition increase of 6.8%, yields a net educational investment gain of about 1.7%. It also seems that 2007 has been a very good year for investments (my 401(k) sure thinks so!). So when I throw in some average years and some bad years with this good year, these educational investment programs may barely keep up with the exponential cost of a college education in Wisconsin.

My advise to these families: Potawotami Bingo Casino. Your chances of successfully funding that education are about the same, but you can have a lot of fun with the Potowatomi's.

Can someone tell me again why UW costs went up 7% since last year?

Disclaimer: I'm just an engineer with a MBA, so take these results with a grain of salt.

Update: Dang, I am good. Those tuition numbers are for my daughter. I didn't realize that JSOnline had an article on rising in-state tuition running on the same webpage as Mr. Lank's piece on the savings programs.

Over the past decade, however, Wisconsin's public-school tuition - not including fees - has more than doubled for in-state undergraduates, including those attending the state's two-year colleges.

Between 1997-'98 and this year, annual tuition rose from $2,860 to $6,330 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and from $2,847 to $6,191 at UW-Milwaukee.

Tuition at the state's four-year universities not including Madison and Milwaukee rose on average from $2,312 to $4,819.