PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's American families know
how important a college education is. In fact, not only does the typical
bachelor's degree recipient earn about 61% more over a 40-year work life,
but higher levels of education are also correlated with better health!(1)
Yet, the 2008 Futuretrust(R) Hopes and Dreams Survey, conducted by Harris
Interactive(R), found that 52% of parents(2) haven't started saving for
this particular dream, a costly mistake since time (and compounded
interest!) is one thing young families have in their favor.
Even with time, attaining a college education has never been more
costly, and parents are concerned -- 72% of parents are worried that
college debt will make their child's life more difficult once they graduate
and start working. Too many parents -- 42% -- plan to use loans to help
their children achieve their education dreams. Another 36% expect to turn
to grants, though grants are becoming more and more difficult to tap into.
Even loans are growing scarce and increasingly costly to utilize. Combine
that information with the fact that college costs are rising -- over the
last five years alone the cost of a public four year college education has
risen 51%(3) -- and it's easy to see why parents are concerned.
So, with 529 college savings plans as a tax-advantaged way to prepare,
why aren't more parents actively saving for their children's future? A good
question. Here are some answers:
-- 86% of parents said they face obstacles in saving for college. 50%
said their greatest obstacle was the rising cost of food, gas and other
daily necessities.
-- 42% of parents say the current state of the economy has affected
their ability to save for their child's education. Yet 44% did not say that
their ability to take a vacation has been affected.
-- Of those who have not started saving, nearly half (47%) say they
don't have room in their budget to put money away for college. Sadly, 13%
state they aren't saving because the "cost seems too overwhelming."
The good news is that parents don't need to find room in their budgets
to put money away. By using savings-generating tools like Futuretrust,
these parents can really make their child's bright future a reality.
According to Futuretrust President and Founder, Rebecca Matthias, "While
most of today's average American families are feeling an economic pinch,
they are still buying groceries, paying for gas, and shopping for clothing
and other necessities online. If parents use the Futuretrust card for these
daily purchases, their children will be able to reap the rewards."
About Futuretrust(R)
Futuretrust is a MasterCard(R)-linked college savings program that
enables families and friends to save for college through their everyday
spending. Every time a purchase is made with the Futuretrust MasterCard, a
minimum of 1% is automatically contributed to any tax-advantaged 529
college savings plan of the member's choice. Members also earn up to 10% in
additional college savings when they use the Futuretrust MasterCard at
thousands of partners in the Futuretrust Preferred Merchant Network
consisting of major retail chains, catalogs, restaurants, and on-line
merchants. Members can also earn college savings rebates when they buy,
sell, finance, or refinance a home. Futuretrust is a no cost program.
Membership is available online at http://www.futuretrust.com, by calling
1.888.trust68 or in store at any Motherhood(R) Maternity, Mimi
Maternity(R), A Pea in the Pod(R) and Destination Maternity(R) locations.
Futuretrust is a Mothers Work, Inc. brand.
About Harris Interactive(R)
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a
long and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science
and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris
Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European
and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For
more information, please visit http://www.harrisinteractive.com.
About the Survey
The Futuretrust "Hopes & Dreams" 2008 survey was conducted online by
Harris Interactive between June 12, 2008 and June 16, 2008 among 2,134 U.S.
adults ages 18+, of whom 644 are parents/legal guardians or expectant
parents of a child or children who are likely to attend college in the
future. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and
therefore no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. To
learn more, log onto http://www.futuretrust.com.
(1) & (3) Source: 2007 CollegeBoard Trends in Higher Education Series.
(2) For the purposes of this survey, "parents" were defined as U.S.
adults ages 18+ who are parents/legal guardians or expectant parents
of a child or children who are likely to attend college in the future.
Mothers Work press releases available through Company News On-Call at
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/581877.html
SOURCE Futuretrust
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Related links:
http://www.futuretrust.com
http://www.harrisinteractive.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/581877.html /
CONTACT:
Judie Ashworth of Futuretrust,
+1-215-873-2283, jashworth@motherswork.com; or Linda Falcone,
linda@blueskypr.com, or Erin Doyle, erin@blueskypr.com, of blue
sky communications for Futuretrust, +1-212-995-1777
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