By LISA S. KING
FN Asst. Editor
lisa@nasguard.com
Heritage Education Funds International ((HEFI) has paid out $6.2 million dollars in the last 15 years for Bahamian students to attend colleges and universities around the world, now its executives have set their focus on Grand Bahama by reintroducing a savings plan that gives parents and guardians an opportunity to put aside funds for their children's future education.
Speaking to the media yesterday to officially reintroduce the savings programme, HEFI Chairman Jason Maguire said they want all parents to become acquainted with it for the sole purpose of becoming financially set to send their children to a college or university of their choice.
Maguire said no matter how much a parent is willing to save, putting a little aside today means a lot in the years ahead for when the child is ready for higher learning.
HEFI has been around for 42 years and for 15 years in The Bahamas. According to Maguire, the organization currently manages $84 million in international business and $1.5 billion in their Canadian business.
This year alone, the Heritage International Scholarship Trust Foundation has paid out over $5 million to international students to help them achieve higher education.
HEFI currently has several representatives in the country including Philip Franks, who coordinates their office on Grand Bahama and Barbara Major, who is director for the office in New Providence.
"We work through our representatives who will come and meet the parents and present the information of the plan," Maguire said. "Parents also work out how much contributions they intend to make, so it is a very simple process."
Maguire said the plan does work as today, millions have been placed in the hands of children to cover the cost of education. He added that with the cost of college education going up every year, parents have to be wise and put aside amounts that will help to cover what tuitions would be like in the future or over the next 14 - 16 years.
Anyone can sign up for the savings programme. The only requirement is to keep making the monthly contributions and when the child is ready for college, he or she need only have a minimal passing grade to a recognized institution anywhere in the world. This also applies to online or distance learning institutions.
Interested parents can make out cheques with their contribution amount, have the amount debited from their savings account or if their work place allows, have it deducted from their salaries every month.
In fact, Maguire said HEFI has teamed up with several large businesses in the country to allow funds to be deducted from their employee's salary to go towards their children's education.
Philip Franks, associate agency director for Grand Bahama, says even though the programme has been available on the island for a while, they are reintroducing it so that it can be approached from a more substantial point of view, with the goal of making it more widely available to the community .
"I am convinced and I have partnered with my wife Dr. Bonnie Franks with respect to bringing this product to Grand Bahama because we have always possessed a passion for our community," Franks said. "We believe that the only way we are able to meet some of the challenges that currently exists is by educating our children. I am talking about education in its broader sense because while this may facilitate the college education of it, there is much more to be learnt once they are exposed to that wider world, and our community can only benefit from these kinds of things flowing back to us and so that is the point of view we are taking as we introduce Heritage."
Franks noted that there is immense flexibility in the plan which allows those who have already signed or who are making contributions to add more to the plan.
"The whole idea of having a particular presence here gives those existing parents opportunity to access more of that information more readily," he said. "So they can walk in and see us as oppose to having to call in to Nassau and in addition to that, it allows us to spread it to the new parents."
Franks said parents can start saving while their children are very young and some cases, even before the child is born. The cut off age, however, is 13.
"The earlier you start planning for your child, the better off you will be in providing for your child's education," he said. "The whole focus of Heritage is to facilitate post-secondary education that is what it is all about, just expanding our communities throughout the process and getting our children more knowledgeable through such programmes."
Franks said over the years, the programme has been well received in Grand Bahama and anticipates that it will grow as more and more parents get to know of its benefits to their children's future.
REINTRODUCING INITIATIVE – Executives of the Heritage Education Funds International announced yesterday that they have re-introduced an initiative which gives parents and guardians an opportunity to save funds that will go towards their children's college or university education. Pictured from left to right are: Philip Franks, Heritage International associate agency director for Grand Bahama; Barbara Major, Heritage International agency director; Sherrica Pinder, administration assistance for Education Solutions Ltd.; and Jason Maguire, chairman of Heritage International.
(Photos by JENNEVA RUSSELL)
