Parents Relying on 17 Percent of College Expenses to be Covered by Student Loans

BOSTON, May 28, 2008 - Fidelity Investments announced today that as three million¹ students prepare to graduate from high school in the coming weeks, many of their parents are facing the realization that they have insufficient college savings.

Fidelity research finds that parents of high school seniors expect to have just 13 percent of the estimated $100,000² needed to fund a four-year college education. Additionally, parents anticipate student loans will cover 17 percent of their child's total college expenses, yet loans are projected to become more difficult to secure and may carry higher interest rates and less favorable terms.

According to the College Board, students received a total of $78 billion³ in both federal and private loans for the 2006-07 academic year, illustrating the reliance on financial aid to supplement college costs. Fidelity estimates that in order for parents to cover 17 percent of college costs in loans, today's high school seniors could incur $25,000⁴ or more in future debt.

"As college tuitions continue to rise year-after-year, financial aid and loans can be part of the overall savings strategy, but it should not be a substitute for starting to save early and often in a tax-advantaged account, like a 529 plan," said Joe Ciccariello, vice president of college planning, Fidelity Personal & Workplace Investing.

"In fact, our research shows that parents of children ages 15-18, who currently utilize a 529 plan, have significantly more savings - and are on track to cover almost half of college expenses."

Despite the increased college savings preparedness of those parents utilizing a 529 plan, many parents (60 percent) still struggle to understand how savings in a dedicated college savings account are factored into the financial aid formula.

Investing in a 529 plan account has a relatively small impact on financial aid because assets in a 529 plan are considered those of the parent not the child. Other savings accounts held in the name of the child or beneficiary may have a greater affect on financial aid eligibility as they are considered as assets of the child.

To help make better informed college planning decisions, Fidelity offers families complimentary financial guidance with investment representatives and access to 124 Investor Centers across the country. In addition, Fidelity has recently introduced two new tools on its College Planning Web Portal on Fidelity.com. The 529 Plan Comparison Tool allows investors to conduct a side-by-side review of the features and benefits of college savings plans, and the 529 State Tax Deduction Calculator helps investors determine if there is a significant tax advantage to investing in the 529 plan offered in their state of residence.

Fidelity is a leading provider of 529 plans. The firm manages the UNIQUE College Investing Plan and the Fidelity Advisor 529 Plan for the State of New Hampshire, the U.Fund^® College Investing Plan for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Delaware College Investment Plan, the Fidelity Arizona College Savings Plan, the ScholarShare^® College Savings Plan and the ScholarShare^®Advisor College Savings Plan for the State of California.

For more information on Fidelity-managed 529 Plans, investors may visit Fidelity's Web site at www.fidelity.com/college or call 1-800-544-1914.

About the Fidelity College Savings Indicator

Data for the Indicator (number of children in household, time to matriculation, school type, current savings and expected future contributions) are collected by Research Data Technology, an independent research firm, through a national online survey of almost 2,300 parents nationwide with children aged 18 and younger who are expected to attend college; with household incomes of $30,000 a year or more; and are the financial decision makers in their household. College costs are sourced from the College Board's Trends in College Pricing 2006 (with an annual inflation rate of 5 percent). Future assets per household are computed by Strategic Advisors, Inc. (a registered investment adviser and wholly owned subsidiary of FMR LLC). Within Fidelity's Asset-Liability model, Monte Carlo simulations are used to estimate future assets at a 75 percent confidence level.

About Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of more than $3.3 trillion, including managed assets of more than $1.5 trillion as of April 30, 2008. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, and human resources and benefits outsourcing services to 24 million individuals and institutions as well as through 5,500 financial intermediary firms. The firm is the largest mutual fund company in the United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans, the largest mutual fund supermarket and a leading online brokerage firm. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit Fidelity.com.

As of April 30, 2008, Fidelity Investments manages more than $14 billion in assets and over 950,000 accounts across seven state-sponsored 529 Plans, all open to residents of any state. The ScholarShare^®College Savings Plan, the ScholarShare^®Advisor College Savings Plan, the U.Fund^® College Investing Plan, the UNIQUE College Investing Plan, the Fidelity Advisor 529 Plan, the Delaware College Investment Plan and the Fidelity Arizona College Savings Plan are offered by the ScholarShare Investment Board, an agency of the state of California, MEFA, the State of New Hampshire, the State of Delaware, and the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education, respectively, and managed by Fidelity Investments. If you or the designated beneficiary are not a California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, or Arizona resident, you may want to consider, before investing, whether your state or the designated beneficiary's home state offers its residents a Plan with alternate state tax advantages or other benefits.

Units of the portfolios are municipal securities and may be subject to market volatility and fluctuation.

Fidelity Investments is a registered service mark of FMR LLC.

The third party marks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

Please carefully consider each Plan's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing. For this and other information, call or write to Fidelity or visit fidelity.com for a free Fact Kit or request a free Offering Statement from your advisor or through advisor.fidelity.com. Read it carefully before you invest or send money.

¹National Center for Education Statistics, Digest for Education Statistics (2007)

²Fidelity calculation based on College Board's estimated total costs for the combined average of 4-year public and private colleges beginning school year 2008-2009

³College Board's Trends in Student Aid, 2007

⁴Based on 17 percent of the $100,000 average college cost, assuming a 10 year repayment period, and an interest rate of 7.5%

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