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The GoodLetter Thursday, June 6, 2002
GoodThings, Inc. :: Stories, actions, ideas, and greeting cards that connect us.
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This Week's Feature
A Promise Worth Keeping
by Allison Ezell
It's that time of year again. With caps flying and commencement addresses forgotten, the next generation of college graduates is heading out into the world. But with no end in sight to rising costs of education, is there any reasonable way to keep college dreams alive for the youngest among us?
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Editor's Note: This week, the focus of the GoodLetter is on big ideas. Last week, we told you the story of Prisma Microfinance, a company with a big, ambitious idea to make small loans available to people in rural Nicaragua in order to help them build the kinds of businesses that will improve the quality of their lives. It got us thinking about other big ideas. Surprising big ideas. Lightbulb-over-the-head big ideas. Ideas you'd write home about. The kinds of ideas that you wish you'd had. And with the cost of a university education skyrocketing to levels that frighten even the most financially secure, there's perhaps no better big idea than one that makes it easier and slightly less daunting to save money that will help send a child to college.
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Fellow GoodLetter readers,
I am standing now at the very beginning of a road, and I am the lucky witness to the start of a marvelous journey. I am a new parent. My husband and I have helped start this journey for our daughter, Emily, by welcoming her into the world. Over the next several years, we will be intimately involved with every step she takes on this road, but as she gets older, she will need us less and less as she grows stronger and more independent, and becomes her own person. At that point, she must find her own way.
I find myself thinking all the time about how we can best help Emily prepare for this journey of hers. How can we help prepare her for her trip and give her all the things she will need further down the road? We certainly can't do everything for her, but we can help her pack the right things in her suitcase.
We can certainly work to help her develop the characteristics that we value: self-confidence, respect for others, respect for nature, generosity, and unconditional love (to name a few). But in addition to these, the one thing we feel most strongly about is education. We hope she will one day be an eager learner and will always seek to broaden her mind and horizons.
To that end, we, like many parents, started a college-savings account for Emily as soon as she was born. It is our goal to save enough money over the next 18 years so that she will be free to choose the educational journey she desires without financial constraints. In addition to squirreling away our paychecks and Christmas bonuses, though, we have found a very cool way to help save for college.
It's a program called Upromise that's definitely worth checking out. It is essentially like most membership or rewards programs, but instead of earning airline miles or free hotel nights, you earn cash for college. Why didn't they think of this earlier?
Here's how it works. By creating a Upromise account, you enroll your credit cards with the Upromise contributing companies. Then, whenever you use that credit card with these companies, a percentage of your purchase is directly deposited into your Upromise college savings account. Your account can then earn tax-deferred interest when it becomes a 529 account (that's another long explanation [helpful links below]).
Every time I buy diapers at a Kroger supermarket, stock up on baby lotion at a CVS drug store, buy a cute swimsuit at Land's End, find the perfect bedtime book at Borders Books, invest in a jogging stroller at Babies R Us, or fill up the tank on my new mom-mobile station wagon at Exxon, I am earning money for Emily's college tuition. It may sound corny, but it makes me happy to shop at the Upromise partners, knowing they are helping me in a small way save for college.
The Upromise college savings calculator projects that based on my spending patterns, I could earn $45,000 for Emily's college education over the next 18 years. That's $45,000 just for buying the things I am already buying! You can earn even more if you sign up family and friends to also contribute to your child's account. What grandparent wouldn't want to help out?
This is one of the best ideas I have heard of in a long time. There are so many ways parents can help prepare their children for their journeys. We can love them, teach them, and set good examples for them. But in a more practical sense, we can also start a nest egg for them. And for Jeff and me, that nest egg is best spent on education. Upromise is a small way to help you build that nest.
:: Allison Ezell
Atlanta, Georgia
Allison and her husband Jeff are the very proud parents of Emily, now 18 months old. Emily's favorite goodthings? "Carrots from a pot roast. Standing on her head. Soap bubbles on a wash cloth. Tickling. Hearing Dad's car pull into the driveway. Graham-cracker cookies set on a windowsill at her height. Frog puppets. Playing dress up with plastic beads. Belly kisses."
(Thoughts on Allison's GoodLetter? Inspired by what you've read? E-mail us -- don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web site.)
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TALK ABOUT IT
Upromise is helping families everywhere with one of life's toughest challenges. What other big, constructive ideas do you know about? Share your stories and ideas.
LEARN MORE ABOUT IT
Launched just over a year ago, Upromise now has well over a million members, all of whom have signed up to help their own child, grandchild, niece or nephew, or even the child of a close personal friend actively begin saving money for college. According to Jim Doyle of Upromise, the program is increasingly easy to use and is adding new partners all the time. Once you've registered, you never have to think about it again. The savings simply begin to add up as you spend. For Doyle -- like Allison -- the benefits of Upromise are personal: "My grandmother, who's 94, used Upromise to finally sell the house she'd been living in for 60 years, and was able to put away a few thousand dollars for college for my daughter."
Founded by Michael Bronner, who himself had to drop out of college because he couldn't afford tuition, Upromise is currently in the process of launching the Upromise Education Foundation. Using the same savings approach as Upromise, the foundation will help low-income students make it to college.
:: Learn more about Upromise
:: Learn more about the Upromise Education Foundation
:: Learn more from Upromise about 529 accelerated gifting plans
Learn more about 529 plans and saving for a child's college education from:
:: SavingForCollege.com
:: College Savings Plans Network
:: College Savings Bank
:: Motley Fool
:: USA Today
:: CNN Money
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT
:: Begin making a difference in the life of a child you love today and consider starting a Upromise savings program.
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Readers Respond
Thanks to so many of you for sharing your thoughts and ideas about recent GoodLetters. Last week, we featured David Satterthwaite's GoodLetter about how the concept of microfinance is helping improve the quality of life for rural people in Nicaragua, and we asked you about your own big ideas for making a difference. Allison Ezell's GoodLetter makes a great case for why planning is itself such a big idea and why it's so important. At least one reader -- from Namibia in southwest Africa -- agrees and shares her own big idea:
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Dear GoodThings,
I have a dream: providing young people with the knowledge to start and live their lives with a plan. Part of it involves basic things like how and why to open a bank account, and how and why to have a savings in a world where one can lose a job any day. The most important part is discovering how to live the life you are supposed to live -- discovering your talents, your passion, and where you fit in the community.
I call this a dream because I do not have the financial support to do just this, but I am totally convinced that if something like this would create more wealth and stability in my country. If it were to spread to the world, a whole new world would open.
Live with a plan and the world will become a better place in which to live.
Carel Human
Swakopmund, Namibia
:: Did you miss our GoodLetter #89 ["A Little Means A Lot"] about how the "big idea" of microfinance is improving lives in Nicaragua? Read it now.
:: Join the conversation with Carel. What's your "big idea"?
We love to hear from you about anything: ideas or situations that are inspiring you or challenging you to think, as well as organizations, programs, and people that contribute to your community and the world everyday. Please drop us a line.
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The Upshot
We discovered this big idea while thinking small. So maybe you're not the bumper-sticker or the T-shirt type, but still you wish that sometimes you could show your support for the causes you care about in a subtler but no less powerful way. What about a small but unique pin to wear on your clothes?
Enter a small Web site based in Maine called Lucinda.com. Since 1989, Designs by Lucinda has been providing non-profits with a unique fundraising opportunity and individuals with a chance to show what they're made of. Non-profit organizations working on issues such as literacy, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, the plight of homeless children, adoption and foster parenting/grandparenting, and breast cancer awareness, among others, can choose from a selection of colorful (and tasteful) hand-crafted pins to order wholesale and sell to raise money. Individuals can buy their favorite hand-made pins in the site's online store. Proceeds from the purchase of all pins support actual groups making a difference.
:: To get information about using Designs for Lucinda pins for fundraising or to buy individual pins of your own to wear, visit Lucinda.com
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GoodThings on Public Radio
Have you been checking out our favorite public radio stories? Here are some of our favorite public radio pieces from this week (follow this link or the one below to the full summaries on our Web site):
:: Native American Hero -- Basketball star SuAnne Big Crow was an icon for Oglala Sioux schoolchildren. And she's still making a difference, ten years after her death.
:: What Dreams Are Made Of -- For many of San Francisco's teenage girls, it's impossible to afford a special prom dress. The Princess Project is changing all that.
:: Global Education -- In Cleveland, Ohio, the local public district faced a major teacher shortage. Where did they turn for math and science help? Would you believe India?
:: Helping Children Learn -- Eight years after the Early Head Start program began, it's been proven effective at helping low-income children under the age of three -- and their parents -- get a jump on education.
:: Refugee Songs -- Six million refugees live in limbo on the African continent. Now, with the help of the UN High Commission for Refugees, some of the most talented musicians among them are "Building Bridges."
:: "Fly Me to the Moon" -- Her voice finally silenced by smoking and emphysema, one of a mother's most beautiful melodies surprisingly survives.
:: Secret of Life -- When the planets align, it has a way of reminding us that life is full of things worth living for.
Visit our site to read full summaries of these stories and listen to your favorites.
Talk to us:
What's the best public radio story you've heard this week?
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