When Mississippi Treasurer Tate Reeves speaks to the state’s school children this year about the importance of saving for college, he does so with added urgency.

“It is especially important this year because with the challenging economic times in our state and virtually every state, college tuition is going up because of less state support,” Reeves said in a phone interview Thursday.

“Affordability and accessibility to a college degree is becoming an issue for many families.”

Reeves visited Tupelo’s Parkway Elementary as well as schools in Gulfport and Meridian last week to kick off the 2010 enrollment period for one of the state’s two college savings plans.

Those visits come during a time when the price of resident tuition increased at all eight of the state’s public universities this year by an average of 6.9 percent.

The average cost of tuition and fees at Mississippi public universities is now $5,067, a number that will only rise by the time Parkway’s students attend college.

“If we continue at 7 percent a year inflation, when those second-graders are freshmen, it will cost almost $11,000 a year to attend one of our institutes of higher learning,” Reeves said. “It is important that our parents and grandparents start saving.”

Families can offset those rising costs by enrolling in the Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition program. The state guarantees to cover tuition and mandatory fees to any of Mississippi’s public colleges and universities once the family prepays at a rate based on today’s tuition prices.

Families can prepay for several different plans, ranging from one year of a community college to five years of a senior college.

They can pay in a lump sum or in monthly payments spaced over three years, five years, 10 years or more. Rates are determined by the child’s age and by how quickly the family pays the entire amount.

Enrollment at 2010 rates opened on Sept. 1 and will close after Dec. 31. Newborns can enroll at any time.

The state also offers the Mississippi Affordable College Savings program, which offers three different investment options.

It allows families to save for tuition and mandatory fees and can be used for certain room and board costs, required books and supplies and graduate school.

MACS money is invested in the market and is not guaranteed by the state. Individuals can enroll at any time. The program, which is managed by TIAA-CREF TFI, was ranked as one of the five best state programs by Consumer Reports in March 2009.

Under both plans, earnings are exempt from federal and state income tax and contributions are deductible from Mississippi income tax up to certain limits.

All states offer college savings plans, similar to MACS. Mississippi is one of 19 states that also offer prepaid programs, similar to MPACT, according to savingforcollege.com.

Both plans are examples of federal 529 plans, education savings plans created by Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code in 1996.

Nationally, the number of families investing in 529 plans has increased this year, according to the 2010 Survey of Parents conducted by the College Savings Foundation.

That report found that 65 percent of parents are saving for their children’s college education, up from 59 percent last year.

In Mississippi, about 25,000 students in the state have MPACT contracts, compared to about 10,000 participants in the MACS program, Reeves said.

Last year, the state sold 1,536 contracts, a 17 percent increase from 2008. Families can combine both plans.

“With what has happened in the stock market and the extreme volatility people are seeing in retirement funds and savings accounts, there is a great deal of interest in plans that lock in tuition,” Reeves said.

Contact Chris Kieffer at (662) 678-1590 or chris.kieffer@djournal.com.