Harold Alfond College Challenge Celebrates Six Months of Awards

The Board of Directors of the Alfond Scholarship Foundation is celebrating the first six months of the Harold Alfond College Challenge, including the funding of the program’s first grants. The program, the nation’s first statewide college grant program, is currently limited to Maine resident babies born at MaineGeneral Medical Center’s Augusta and Waterville facilities. It will be available statewide for babies born after January 1, 2009.

“We are very encouraged by the high level of interest in and participation by Central Maine families in the Harold Alfond College Challenge,” stated Alfond Scholarship Foundation Board Chair Larry Pugh. Maine families are excited about this gift -- over 200 families expecting to deliver a baby at MaineGeneral Medical Center in 2008 have submitted statements of interest in opening a college savings account for their new baby and receiving the $500 grant. The first grants have been funded, and public enthusiasm for the program is quite exciting.”

Governor John E. Baldacci, who helped launch the Harold Alfond College Challenge in December 2007, stated: “My late friend, Harold Alfond, had a unique ability to challenge others to help create partnerships for opportunity through his generous gifts to Maine. The success of the Harold Alfond College Challenge is another of his living legacies to Maine people. I know he would join me in encouraging as many parents and families as possible to enroll in this program and begin saving now for college.”

Launched in January 2008 by a generous gift from the late philanthropist Harold Alfond, the unprecedented Harold Alfond College Challenge combines the resources of the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) and MaineGeneral Medical Centers to provide $500 scholarships to be invested in NextGen College Investing Plan® accounts for every Maine resident baby. The first phase of the program’s implementation is occurring at MaineGeneral Health facilities in Augusta and Waterville, with a statewide launch of the program planned for January 2009. There were 14,152 births in Maine in 2006.

During this model year, the Alfond Scholarship Foundation is working in close partnership with FAME and MaineGeneral Health, among others, to increase awareness of and participation in the program in the Waterville and Augusta areas, provide training to medical professionals, and hold public seminars to encourage college savings and aspirations.

MaineGeneral Health President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Bullock stated: “MaineGeneral is honored to have been entrusted by the Alfond Scholarship Foundation to help model and launch this important college savings program. Harold Alfond recognized the integral relationship between education and personal health, and we are doing our part to educate Central Maine families about this unique and important opportunity.”

“As an active partner in the Harold Alfond College Challenge, FAME is pleased to participate in the roll out of the program and looks forward to the statewide launch of this extraordinary legacy in 2009,” stated FAME’s Acting CEO Beth Bordowitz. “Harold Alfond’s generous gift will help to change the culture in Maine and inspire more Maine families to begin saving for college early.”

During the 2008 model phase of the program, all babies born at MaineGeneral who are Maine residents are eligible to receive the $500 grant. A NextGen account must be opened naming the child as the account beneficiary before the baby’s first birthday. Anyone can open the NextGen account—parents, grandparents, even friends--but only one $500 grant will be awarded per baby. The grant may be used as the initial contribution to open the account and no other initial or subsequent contribution is required, although it was the late Harold Alfond’s hope that parents and extended family members would continue contributing to their child’s NextGen account.

The Alfond Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit corporation established to support the Harold Alfond College Challenge. The Foundation is a partnership of organizations and individuals who embrace the late Harold Alfond’s philosophy, and includes representatives from the Maine Compact for Higher Education, the Finance Authority of Maine, the University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System, the Maine Community Foundation, the Mitchell Institute, MaineGeneral Health, and the Maine Hospital Association.

Maine General is the leading health care provider in the Kennebec Valley and the state’s third-largest health care system. It is a comprehensive non-profit organization that also includes physician practices, nursing homes, rehabilitation, home healthcare and hospice services.

FAME is a quasi-independent state agency that provides innovative financial solutions to help Maine citizens pursue business and educational opportunities. FAME administers the NextGen College Investing Plan (NextGen), Maine’s Section 529 tax-advantaged college savings program. To learn more about the Harold Alfond College Challenge and NextGen, or to obtain an application, please contact FAME at (800) 228-3734 or visit www.famemaine.com .

Before you invest in the NextGen plan, request a NextGen College Investing Plan Program Description from your Maine Distribution Agent or call toll free (877) 4-NEXTGEN (463-9843) and read it carefully. The Program Description contains more complete information, including investment objectives, charges, expenses and risks of investing in the NextGen plan which you should consider carefully before investing.