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Health & Fitness

How to Use Your U.Plan Savings

Congratulations! You’re getting ready to send your child off to college in the fall. And even better, you’ve saved in the U.Plan. So how do you use your U.Plan savings now that you need them?

Here are 5 easy steps:

1.      Locate your Distribution Request Form. If you have accounts that are maturing this academic year, we sent you a Distribution Request Form in the mail in mid-April. If you have misplaced your form, or never received it, give us a call at 800-449-6332 and we’ll send you a new one.

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2.      Make your choice. Indicate on your Distribution Request Form where you would like us to send your funds for this year. If your child is not attending a participating U.Plan college or university, you can indicate that you would like to cash out your funds and receive back what you initially saved, plus interest. That amount will be listed on your form. You can also choose to hold the certificates for the time being, if you haven’t decided what your plans are yet.

3.      Send your form back to MEFA. Lots of customers question if the school knows about a student’s U.Plan money. We send the U.Plan schools a pre-disbursement roster showing all of the students at that school with U.Plan funds, and each student’s amount, but we need to have a Distribution Request Form back to us by the due date for the student to make it on that roster.

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4.      Know the procedure for cashing out. If you’re cashing out your U.Plan savings, you should receive your distribution the first week in August. Be on the lookout for a confirmation letter, and then a check from Fidelity Investments, which should arrive 7 - 10 business days later. If you’re planning on using that money to pay for tuition at a non-participating school, you may want to talk to the school and let them know that you are expecting this money. Please feel free to contact us for any help you may need.

5.      Take advantage of your savings. MEFA sends out our first disbursements for the year to U.Plan schools in the first week in August. If your U.Plan disbursement is going to your child’s school, you will receive a letter confirming the amount that has been paid.

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