LMR_October FINAL 2018

Treasury Notes
START SAVING FOR COLLEGE EVEN WITH TOPS
BY STATE TREASURER JOHN M. SCHRODER
When I attended Southeastern
Louisiana University, I worked
several jobs to help pay for my
college education. There was
no TOPS program
Thornton,
when
Musso,
I was
&Bellemin
in school, and we
didn’t have easy access to student loans. Financing
I approve this ad copy for use in the following issues:
for college was pretty limited; you either paid for
everything out of pocket or you depended on savings.
Today, many Louisiana families depend on TOPS, at
least for tuition costs, and it looks like the program will
be around for a while. TOPS doesn’t cover all college
expenses, however, so it’s good to have additional
savings set aside.
Index Listings
You can open a college savings account through the
Student Tuition WATER Assistance TREATMENT and CONSULTANTS Revenue Trust (START)
program. The program can be used to save money
tax-free for tuition, room and board, books and fees.
START can be used to pay expenses at any higher
education institution or Louisiana Technical College
school.
START is called a 529 plan, and most states operate
similar programs. Louisiana’s program is arguably one
of the best in the nation, however.
The minimum deposit to open a START account is
$10, and there are no fees to
participate in the program.
Parents, grandparents and other
individuals can open accounts
for children.
The program offers a variety
of tax benefits. Up to $2,400
in deposits can be deducted
from taxable income reported
to the state, or if the account
owner files a joint return, the
amount is $4,800. Earnings are
tax-deferred, and withdrawals
for qualified expenses are
exempt from state and federal
taxes. Your START beneficiary
pays no taxes on their
disbursements, and you can
change beneficiaries without
tax consequences, provided that
the new beneficiary is a member
of the family of the previous
Membership Directory
2018 Roster Edition
Official Publication of the
Louisiana Rural Water Association
beneficiary.
Pub Code
Tel:(800) 369-6220, (352
You can use START to invest in a variety of options
Fax: (352) 331-3
-- ranging from very conservative to aggressive --
depending on the age of your dependent and how
soon he or she will be entering college. Louisiana
LWR-R0018 matches your investments from 2 percent to 14 percent
depending on your income. The highest match is
Authorized Signature:
available for families who earn less than $30,000 a
year.
Date:
A new federal tax change Artwork makes Contact: 529 accounts even
more beneficial to parents by allowing for the creation
of savings accounts for the payment of K-12 private
school tuition. Louisiana will roll out its START
K-12 savings program statewide this year, but in the
meantime, the option is available to families who had
START accounts as of December 31, 2017.
Advertising Space
Those START account owners are able to request
a one-time disbursement of up to $10,000 for K-12
expenses. Such disbursements cannot exceed the
START account balance as of December 31, 2017, nor
can they exceed the current account balance. As of
September 6, 2018, there have been 396 disbursements
for the payment of K-12 expenses totaling more than
Custom Water
Treatment Programs
Designed by Professionals Since 1990
POTAB
ABLE
WASTE
WA
ATER
FAX: (225)654-9533
P. O. Bory,
LWR-R00
Ad Order # 1636839
Adv Code 179697
S. Rep: Jason Zawada (C)
SEE TREASURY PAGE 21
Corrosion Inhibition Iron & Manganese Control Enhanced Disinfection NSF Certified
EPA Approved Chlorine dioxide for Stage 2 compliance assurance DBP reduction
Sludge Dewatering Polymers Dechlorination Technical Support/Service Testing
Naylor, LLC - Gain
5950 NW 1st Pl
Gainesville, Florida,
Page 16
707693_Thornton.indd 1
LMR | October 2018
8/21/14 8:33 PM