Families unable to access funds from college savings program following audit ‘issue’

Silver Spring resident Brian Savoie began setting aside money for his son’s college tuition nearly 20 years ago, when his first-born, Caleb, entered kindergarten. Now, facing a fall semester tuition payment, the Savoie family cannot access all of the money in their account due to a glitch in one of Maryland’s tuition savings programs. Administrators of the Maryland Prepaid College Trust acknowledge the problem. They say that during a switch-over to a new vendor, an audit raised concerns as to whether interest earnings were being calculated accurately. That led to the interest portion of accounts like the Savoies’ to be frozen.