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MPACT is 100.1% Funded

When I took office in January 2020, the Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition’s (MPACT) Legacy Plan had a 72 percent funding ratio. What this means in practical terms is that taxpayers were about to be on the hook for over $125 million.

I am a fiscal conservative to my core, so asking for a taxpayer bailout wasn’t in the cards for me. Instead, I poured myself into a solution that wasn’t going to add to the taxpayer burden. In 2020, months after taking office, I worked with the College Savings Board to update and improve the actuarial assumptions to more accurately reflect historical experiences.

Then, in FY2021, we took advantage of the market and experienced a 27 percent performance investment return, the best one-year annualized return in program history.

By 2022, the Legacy Plan had rebounded. We were able to announce then that the Legacy Plan was 91 percent funded and the cost to taxpayers had been cut by two thirds.

Even with the success, our team didn’t stop. Today, I am pleased to announce the Legacy Plan is 100.1 percent funded.

For nearly a decade, the MPACT Legacy Plan was a bill that hung over the heads of Mississippi taxpayers. That burden has now been lifted off your shoulders.

Here’s why this is so important: With each two- and four-year college diploma, Mississippi gains another skilled worker. More skilled workers make Mississippi more attractive to employers, driving economic development and empowering young people to reach their God-given potential.

MPACT has long provided a path to a diploma to Mississippians, but with solvency in question, many taxpayers were worried an expensive bailout would be required to deliver on the promises made. Today, we can say the promise has been kept – and it didn’t cost taxpayers to keep it.

I want to extend a special thank you to our Investments Team for their hard work throughout this process, and I want to commit to you that I won’t stop fighting to do more good with every taxpayer dollar entrusted to our care.

If you would like to learn more about starting an MPACT plan for your child, which allows you to lock-in today’s tuition rates and prepay college, please visit treasury.ms.gov/mpact or contact my Mississippi College and Career Savings team. You can reach them at (601) 359-5255 or email collegesavings@treasury.ms.gov.