$500 529-Account for Every Child Born in Maine

Parents Forum
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<p>Lost in yesterday’s hoopla about Harvard’s aggressive tuition discounting was an announcement about a program that I suspect will have an impact on a far larger number of students. Before his death, Dexter Shoe magnet Harold Alfond set up a program to contribute $500 to Maine’s 529 college saving plan for every child born in the state. A pilot program, announced yesterday, will begin Jan. 1st, and children born in Maine will receive the grant beginning in 2009 and continuing in perpetuity. Quite a remarkable act of philanthropy!</p>

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<p>[Alfond</a> Foundation to give every Maine baby $500 NextGen scholarship](<a href=“http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=157642&zoneid=500]Alfond”>http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=157642&zoneid=500)</p>

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<p>WOW. I think having the $500 to start off is going to encourage parents to keep adding to the fund.</p>

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<p>Harold Alfond was an extremely giving, generous man. He has underwritten many sports facilities at several schools around the state…he has begun a cancer center in the central part of the state… his vision was exemplary… a wonderful man… I hope this program serves as an example everywhere…</p>

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<p>What a wonderful legacy. And I agree, this could be a gift worth far greater than the $500. It will get families involved in adding to the seed money. Hopefully, the “paperwork” is nearly automatic, and will not rely on the parents to have to do alot of work to open the account. That way, every infant will not only have an account, but parents will have an easy way to begin to put money away. Even if its just the $5 that grandma sends every birthday and Christmas, the babysitting money, etc.</p>

<p>PS. I totally enjoyed swimming in the Harold Alfond pool at Rolllins College. All I knew was that he was a trustee who had two sons graduate from RC. I never realized he was the same Dexter Shoe “guy.” What a wonder man. He shared his good fortune with so many.</p>

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<p>$500 is not going to put a dent in the cost of attending college at the rate it’s going up, but I applaud this man’s effort. It’s a start. Baby steps…(I’m sure there’s a pun in there somewhere)</p>

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<p>Is Maine gentrifying ?</p>

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<p>$500; with 18 years of growth easily grows to $2000. You can’t bash a man/organization that is able to do this for EVERY child born in Maine.</p>

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<p>I’m not bashing him, I told you, I applaud him. It’s a start though…baby steps.</p>