Kalamazoo Times

The Michigan Education Trust’s (MET) 35-year anniversary $1.5 Million Giveaway contest winners have been announced.

The contest, which gave out $15,000 prepaid tuition prizes, yielded 100 winners; a recent press release from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office said.

“For 35 years, MET has been providing families peace of mind as they work to help provide their children with a debt-free start to pursue their dreams,” Robin Lott, bureau director of the Michigan Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning, said in the release. “We are excited to shine a $1.5 million spotlight on MET and show parents, grandparents and others how it’s a safe, secure and flexible way to make sure their loved ones meet their future education and career goals. Our message is to remind Michiganders that while you can’t predict the future, you sure can prepare for it.”

The contest was the result of a judicious investment strategy over 10 years that gave MET a record surplus.

“This giveaway celebrates MET’s 35 years of providing life-changing opportunities for Michiganders to save for children’s higher education and pave their way for a better future,” Whitmer said in the release. “As a MET alumna myself, this program is near and dear to my heart. My parents used MET to save for my future education and I’m guessing there are a lot of future leaders in all walks of life out there right now whose families are saving with MET.”

The tuition award can be utilized by recipients at schools in line with MET guidelines.

"My mother told me when I was in elementary school, 'You're getting a college degree before you ever think about getting married,'" MET Alumna Lisa Ingall said in the release. "Her MET investment was the beginning of a hand-me-down tradition in our family of using the MET savings plan to make college more affordable for myself and other relatives – including my sister, my son, and soon my two nieces."