Given today's shaky economy and ever-increasing college tuition costs, families are seeking ways to ensure their children will be able to afford higher education.

Now people can prepare for the financial responsibilities of college even before their children enroll in kindergarten. Pennsylvania's Tuition Account Program (TAP) is a tax-free way for parents to save for tomorrow's college expenses at today's much lower rates, according to the Web site for the state-sponsored program (www.patap.org).

With this program, parents can purchase credits that will eventually pay for one semester to four years of their child's tuition.

And soon, parents may be able to choose the amount of risk they wish to take on their TAP investments under a new plan chosen by Pennsylvania State Treasurer Barbara Hafer. The investments will be managed by Philadelphia's Delaware Investments.

"We're very excited to have the opportunity to work with the state in this program," Delaware Investments spokeswoman Yvonne Klemets Wright said. "We've put together some proposals (of investment plans) and state representatives are looking over them now."

The proposals are being examined to determine the kinds of funds available for investment, fees for the plans and distribution to the investors. Families should be able to use the new development this spring after the state has finished reviewing the proposals, Wright said.

The legislation that allowed TAP was passed in 1997 and appears in the Internal Revenue Service's Section 529, allowing for the existence of state-sponsored college savings programs.

Kerry Royer, spokeswoman for Hafer, said having Delaware Investments manage the new college savings plan will lead to new potential benefits for families. With the company managing the Section 529 plan, families could invest in such ways that would allow them, with an appropriate amount of risk, to not only pay for tuition, but also "possibly have more money for room and board," she said.

"I think investing money at today's prices would be a great idea because the price of tuition will continue to rise. This can save parents a huge amount of money and can also allow for more children to attend college," said Sheri Wenzel (sophomore-finance and international business).

Royer identified TAP as a "guaranteed college savings plan." With the management of Delaware Investments, the new opportunities for families of future college students have the potential to allow an increase of the amount of money returned through the investments, she added.

But, this, as in any such venture, might also end in a loss of money depending on the risk involved in the investments. While families will have the opportunity to determine how deep they wish to plunge into investments, the choice that they ultimately make regarding this option involves weighing potential benefits over potential losses.

But to have the opportunity for their children to attend college, this may be a risk that many will deem worth taking.

"When it comes to money, everything is risky; you could lose money in the stock market or even gambling," Wenzel said. "You can't really look at the risk behind this, and instead focus more on the benefit that it could provide you."