Washington’s Prepaid Tuition Program Should Reopen in 2017

SEATTLE (AP) — The committee that manages Washington's prepaid tuition program is planning to begin accepting college savings again in 2017.

At a meeting in Olympia on Wednesday, the group also will discuss extending the deadline for refunds from the Guaranteed Education Tuition program from this December to sometime next year.

Those refunds have totaled $310 million since September, with more than 15,000 accounts requesting refunds. Program officials say refunds requests have slowed down but have not stopped.

The GET program stopped accepting new payments — except for those on a payment plan — in August.

The Legislature decided earlier this year that the prepaid tuition program should reopen and the state should start a more traditional 529 college savings plan as well.

The GET committee is discussing reopening the GET program and starting to accept investments in the traditional 529 plan next summer.