Governor Rod Blagojevich announced September as “College Savings Month” in Illinois, as part of an effort to help families save money for future college costs.

“[College Savings Month] is an attempt to inform families of the financial options they have for saving for a child’s college fund,” said Lori Reimers, director of State Relations for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.

September was chosen because students are going back to school and parents are realizing that their children are one year closer to college, Reimers said.

One tuition savings plan in Illinois that is being promoted heavily during the month is the College Illinois! prepaid tuition program.

The prepaid tuition program allows parents to pay for college semesters today.

“It’s a way to protect yourself against large tuition hikes,” said Nancy Stephens, associate director of the College Illinois! program.

Parents can purchase any number of semesters of college at fixed rates. When the child is ready to go to school, the prepaid semesters are applied toward 15 credit hours of school at any Illinois public university, no matter what the tuition.

“It doesn’t matter if a student wants to go somewhere a little more expensive like U of I or NIU, or somewhere like Eastern, which is a little bit cheaper,” Stephens said.

At NIU, the College Illinois! prepaid semesters are being cashed in for credits at an increasing rate.

“It’s getting more and more popular with new students each year. It’s become one of our largest third-party billings,” said Judy Rourke, account technician of student resources.

To use College Illinois! funds, a student must complete an authorization form from NIU each semester to confirm use of the funds. College Illinois! is then billed for the eligible tuition and mandatory fees, Rourke said.

Students who have bought prepaid semesters but decide to go out-of-state or to private institutions will be given the average tuition price of all Illinois public universities per semester. There is a lot of flexibility. You could transfer the benefits to another child if one child doesn’t go to college or you can get back the money you put in, plus any interest,” Stephens said.

The vast majority of parents using the program are buying semesters for children as young as infants. Semesters being bought for infants are sold at a lower price than semesters for older children because interest can be gained during the long time period before college, Reimer said.

Last year it cost $3,481 for an infant as compared to $3,725 for a 12-year-old to buy a semester’s worth of tuition and fees. The current average tuition and fees per semester at Illinois public universities is just under $3,000. Prepaid tuition plans are also available for Illinois community colleges.

The program figures moderate tuition hikes to come up with pricing, Stephens said, but the main incentive is that there is protection against unreasonable hikes.

For more information about the program, visit www.collegeillinois.com or call 1-877-877-3724.