Peter Tsirigotis' resignation comes a day after lawmakers grilled him after parents said they have been unable to access all of the money in their Maryland Prepaid College Trust accounts since August.
In a statement, Michelle Winner, a spokeswoman for Maryland 529, thanked Tsirigotis “for his dedication and service as the Maryland 529 Board Chair.” She said Vice Chairman Geoffrey Newman will serve as the interim chair until a new chair is elected at the Feb.
23 board meeting.Hundreds of people with prepaid accounts have been affected by a calculation error that led Maryland 529, the agency charged with managing the state’s college savings plans, to suspend interest payments in August. The error stemmed from a technical problem in applying a new accrual rate that the board approved in November 2021 for balances held before Oct. 31, 2021, according to the agency. Once the change was applied, some accounts that were ineligible for the increase were shown as receiving it, officials said. After discovering the error, Maryland 529 suspended interest payments until they could be corrected. It hired third-party accountants to verify the calculations and the coding of software.Anthony Savia, executive director of the Maryland Prepaid College Trust and the College Investment Plan, told lawmakers Thursday that resolving the issue has taken longer than anticipated, but “quality control measures have been put in place to ensure accurate reporting moving forward.”He said tuition benefits are not frozen and account holders have access to their principal contributions. But many parents say the money is not enough to cover their costs and has forced them to take out loans or tap retirement accounts with tax penalties. Brian Savoie, a Silver Spring parent, testified about his ordeal covering his son’s tuition at Purdue University this year, saying he received only a portion of the $9,000 he was expecting from the trust for the semester.“While there is certainly plenty of fault and blame to go around, the vacancy of the chair position at this critical juncture is concerning to say the least,” Savoie said Friday. “Yesterday, Peter Tsirigotis and I agreed to begin discussions. I call on the interim chair, the executive director, and the entire Maryland 529 board to honor that and begin discussions on a resolution immediately.”
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