MPACT awards scholarship to infant

February 4, 2010

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MPACT awards scholarship to infant

Lucy Weber
lweber@mcherald.com

Bryson Tucker can’t walk, talk or even crawl yet, but he’s already got a plan for college.

The 5-month-old has the first year of a four-year Mississippi university education paid for. His mom, Tawana Tucker of Ridgeland, won a free year of college tuition for him in a random drawing sponsored by the Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (MPACT) plan.

“You don’t have any clue now, but you’ll be very pleased in 18 years,” State Treasurer Tate Reeves told Bryson, who was playing with a toy in his infant carrier. Reeves, whose office oversees the MPACT program, presented a check for $4,691 to Tucker last week.

Since learning of her win, Tucker, a nurse at the VA Medical Center in Jackson, has already started an MPACT account for Bryson – something she planned to do all along – to cover his other three years of college.

Tucker entered the contest, which was open from Sept. 1 through December last year, sometime in December when she visited the Web site at a friend’s recommendation to learn about the savings program for Bryson’s future.

“A friend who paid for her grandchild told me about the program. I was surfing the Internet and it was the perfect opportunity to check it out. I saw the contest and decided to enter,” Tucker said. “I’ve never won any contest.”

Her first win is now a blessing, she said.

“We always say he was a bundle of blessings even before he arrived,” Tucker’s sister Rochelle Culp said.

Tucker attended Mississippi College and then Jackson State University. What college Bryson attends when he is college-bound at age 18 is up to him. “He’ll have a long time to think about it,” his mom said.

“Maybe Mississippi State,” suggested Culp.

Tucker said she’s thankful for the free year of college and the chance to start saving for Bryson’s future, especially since the cost of tuition keeps rising almost every year.

“Can you image what tuition will be when Bryson gets there?” she said.

Reeves said the contest is intended to make more people aware of MPACT and its impact on the next generation.

“This is about affordability and accessibility to college for young people like Bryson. Given the recent volatility in the financial markets, there is no better way to invest your money,” he said.

“Hundreds of Mississippians entered our online tuition drawing, and I am pleased that we have the opportunity to provide this family with a gift that will pay huge dividends in the future. This is one way you can help secure your child’s future is through planning for their college education today.”

MPACT allows families to lock-in today’s college tuition prices regardless of future tuition increases, and the program is also guaranteed by the state. MPACT earnings are exempt from federal and state income taxes.

InTuition Systems, the records administrator for MPACT, donated the free year of senior college tuition.