Whether paying their latest tuition bill or planning for a younger sibling to become a Nittany Lion, Penn State students can now benefit from the removal of a surcharge added to a state tuition account program.

The Pennsylvania Guaranteed Savings Plan (GSP), which allows investors to buy advance tuition credits at current prices, eliminated a 6 to 7 percent surcharge.

"I would say that it is a positive change," Carol Coder, an accountant for the Office of the Bursar, said. "Now you really are buying a credit at today's [tuition] rate."

With tuition rates ever increasing, GSP accounts have become even more advantageous.

"Your account is guaranteed against tuition inflation," said Elizabeth Kupchinsky, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Treasury Department.

In addition to making the plan attractive to future investors, the premium's removal will benefit Penn State students currently exchanging tuition credit to pay their bill.

"[Because] Treasurer [Robert] Casey eliminated the premium retroactively, credits are basically worth more," Kupchinsky said.

"If you bought 10 credits at Penn State rate, they are worth 11.26 now," she said.

After eliminating the surcharges in 1998, they were reinstated in 2003 to cushion the plan's funds against a market downturn, but stabilizing tuition rates and an account surplus of $3.4 million have now been credited with the removal of the surcharges. Joseph Hurley, the founder of savingforcollege.com, agreed that the market's performance was a factor in the change.

"The trust fund has been doing better than in the 2000-2001 period," he said.

The GSP savings plan's newly announced partnership with Upromise, another college savings fund, may attract potential investors, Kupchinsky said.

"Any time you shop at qualified retailers, you set aside funds to save for higher education," she said. "People who have GSP and Upromise accounts can link the two."

Hurley said there also lies a catch among GSP's many benefits.

"There is a penalty built into the law if you don't use the money for college," he said.

If funds in a GSP account are not used for education, the investor pays federal and state income tax applied to the fund as well as a 10 percent penalty, Kupchinsky said.