GET to DreamAhead Incentivized Rollover

THE GET TO DREAMAHEAD INCENTIVIZED ROLLOVER WINDOW HAS CLOSED.

UPDATE: All 3 phases of Senate Bill 6087 are complete.

During the 2018 Legislative Session, the Legislature enacted Senate Bill 6087, which provided new account options and additional benefits for GET customers who purchased units before July 1, 2015. This legislation went into effect on April 15 and the GET Committee set policies based on the directions in the bill. The amount of additional benefits that you received depended on choices you made about your GET account, when you purchased your GET units, and the funded status of the GET program. The information on this page was intended to help you learn more about the new options that this bill offered.

Please note that these new options were available to GET customers in phases.

GET Customer Options at a Glance

Due to the passage of SB 6087, GET customers who had unredeemed units bought before July 1, 2015 had the following options:

Roll your entire GET account (partial rollovers are not permitted) over to the new DreamAhead College Investment Plan at a special Unit Cash Value Price of $143 (NO LONGER AVAILABLE - see Phase 1 below).
Keep your savings in your GET account and potentially be eligible for up to two adjustments that may add units to your GET account.
- The first adjustment applies to accounts with an average unit price that is higher than $117.82. Qualifying accounts received additional units based on the difference between their average unit price and $117.82 (see Phase 2 below).
- The second adjustment was contingent on the funded status of the GET program. It applied to all GET accounts with unredeemed units bought before July 1, 2015 (see Phase 3 below).
Request a refund of your GET account with no program penalties (NO LONGER AVAILABLE - see Non-Penalty Refunds below).

Overview of SB 6087

Phase 1 - GET to DreamAhead Rollover Incentive

Update: This offer is no longer available. If you chose to roll over your GET account to DreamAhead during the incentive window, be sure to log in to your new DreamAhead account to view your balance and ensure your new information is correct.

How it works

NO LONGER AVAILABLE - The first option that Senate Bill 6087 provides is an opportunity for GET customers to roll their GET accounts over to Washington's new DreamAhead College Investment Plan at a special Unit Cash Value of $143 that is different than the standard GET unit payout value.* This option became available to GET customers on June 15, 2018 and will be offered through September 12, 2018.** The $143 Unit Cash Value was calculated based on a formula outlined in Senate Bill 6087. This calculation divided total assets in the GET fund attributable to unredeemed units purchased prior to July 1, 2015 by total unredeemed units in the fund purchased prior to July 1, 2015 and any units added to customer accounts through the program's August 1, 2017 unit rebase. The Unit Cash Value is different from the standard GET unit payout value, which is currently $106.01.

When processing your GET to DreamAhead rollover, we will compare the total dollar amount of rolling your units over at the special $143 Unit Cash Value Price with the total dollar value of rolling your units over based on the temporary non-penalty refund policy. We will use the approach that gives you the most money.

How eligible customers can claim this offer

NO LONGER AVAILABLE - From June 15, 2018 to September 12, 2018, eligible GET customers who own units purchased before July 1, 2015 and are interested in this option will be able to start the rollover process by logging in to their online GET accounts. Once logged in, select the account you wish to roll over, then look for the "DreamAhead" link in the top menu bar. The online system will guide you through the process. If you wish to complete a rollover by paper form, you can download the GET to DreamAhead Rollover form from the Forms page. For this option, you will also need to complete a paper DreamAhead enrollment form, which you can download from DreamAhead's website.

Important notes on the rollover process

We are currently experiencing a high volume of rollover requests and because every GET account is unique, we must carefully review each request and the status of each account before processing the transaction. It may take up to seven weeks for us to process your request. We appreciate your patience as we work to process rollovers quickly and accurately.
Only individual account owners will be able to use the online rollover process. Trust accounts and accounts owned by organizations or other "non-person" entities will need to complete the rollover process by paper form (as described above).
As you go through the online rollover process, you will encounter a screen on DreamAhead's site that shows an estimate of the value of your GET account that you are rolling over. This estimate is based on the value of your account at the standard GET payout value of $106.01. This is because the rollover system will continue to be offered after the 90-day window expires, and will be based on the traditional GET payout model. Rest assured that if you are starting your rollover between June 15 and September 12, 2018, and your units are eligible (purchased before July 1, 2015), your GET units will be rolling over at the $143 rate.

*Note that if you roll your GET account(s) over to DreamAhead, you will be closing your GET account(s) and moving all of your funds to a 529 plan that works much differently than GET. DreamAhead is an investment-based 529 plan. The State of Washington does not insure or guarantee DreamAhead accounts or any investment returns. Account owners assume all investment risks. DreamAhead offers a variety of options that can be customized based on the age of your student and your risk tolerance. The plan offers portfolios that range from conservative options that invest heavily in bonds to aggressive options that invest heavily in stocks. Please take the time to understand how DreamAhead works before starting the rollover by viewing the DreamAhead Program Details Booklet. The Program Details Booklet discusses investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information about DreamAhead. Read and consider it carefully before investing. You should also consult your tax, legal and investment advisor before making an investment decision.

**All rollovers made after this limited 90-day period will be at the standard GET payout value in effect when the rollover is processed.

Phase 2 - Unit Adjustment

UPDATE: This adjustment was completed for eligible accounts on November 15, 2018. To see if and how your account was affected by 'Phase 2,' log in to your GET account.

Once the 90-day incentivized rollover window closes, the GET Committee will make two account adjustments for customers who choose to stay in GET and own units purchased before July 1, 2015.

The first adjustment will add units to all GET accounts with an average Unit Purchase Price higher than $117.82. This amount was the payout value for GET units in the 2016-17 academic year, before we reset the payout value to match tuition and rebased all customer accounts. Please note that this process will only consider the average Unit Purchase Price for units purchased before July 1, 2015 that have not yet been redeemed (Qualifying Units). Non-paid in full Custom Monthly Plans will receive additional units based on payments made prior to July 1, 2015. The way that this adjustment will work is as follows:

We will determine the difference between your average Unit Purchase Price for all Qualifying Units in your account and $117.82.
If your average Unit Purchase Price is higher than $117.82, we will then multiply this difference by the total number of Qualifying Units in your account.
Finally, we will divide the result of #2 above by the current GET Unit Purchase Price of $113. The result will be the number of new units that we will add to your account.

Note that the bill does not allow us to begin making this adjustment until Phase 1 is complete; the bill also requires us to finish making this adjustment to all qualifying accounts before March 1, 2019.

Phase 3 - GET Funded Status Adjustment

UPDATE: The Phase 3 adjustment took place on January 25th and 26th. All customers with unredeemed units purchased prior to July 1, 2015 received an additional 8.0392% of the eligible units in their account. The State Actuary provided the updated funded status measurement to the GET Committee at its January 23 meeting. Since the funded status was higher than 125%, all customers with eligible accounts received more units.

Eligible account owners received notification via email when and if the adjustment was applied to your account.

You do not need to take action to receive this adjustment.

The final adjustment must occur after phases 1 and 2 are complete, and will depend on the GET program's funded status, after the first two phases are complete. The State Actuary will provide the updated funded status, which is the measure of how well positioned the GET program is to meet all future obligations to customers without the need for state assistance. If the funded status is higher than 125%, all customers with unredeemed units purchased prior to July 1, 2015 will receive more units. Customers may not receive greater than 15% more units from this adjustment. Note that this adjustment must also be finished before March 1, 2019.

Example of the Adjustment

This hypothetical account contains 110 units. 100 of these units were purchased before July 1, 2015, 10 units were purchased after July 1, 2015 (or added through other adjustments). 100 of these units are eligible for the adjustment.

100 eligible units x .080392 (8.0392%) = 8.0392 units
The 8.0392 units will then be added to the account.
100 units purchased before July 1, 2015 + 10 units bought/added after July 1, 2015 + 8.0392 new units = 118.0392 units
The result is a new total of 118.0392 units.

Non paid-in-full Custom Monthly Plans will receive additional units based on the actual units purchased on the contract prior to July 1, 2015.

More about eligible units

When calculating your eligible units, keep in mind that distributions are processed based on the average price paid for all units purchased in the account. Therefore, distributions dip into each unit purchase made on an account. If units were distributed after July 1, 2015, it will affect the total number of eligible units in your account.

Example

A hypothetical account owner purchased 100 lump sum units before July 1, 2015, and 100 lump sum units after July 1, 2015.
The account owner redeemed 20 units (10% of their total units) after July 1, 2015.
50% of the redeemed units (10 units) would come from the first unit purchase, and 50% percent (10 units) would come from the second unit purchase.
The account would then hold 90 eligible units and 180 units total before the Phase 3 calculation took place.

This means 7.2353 (90x.080392) units were added to the account for a total of 187.2353.

Additional Account Options

Non-Penalty Refunds

NO LONGER AVAILABLE - Due to the passage of Senate Bill 6087, the GET Committee voted to extend the non-penalty refund policy to last until the 90-day incentivized GET to DreamAhead rollover window (Phase 1) closes. The Committee chose to extend this deadline to ensure maximum flexibility for customers who are still determining the GET account option that works best for them. During this extension, account owners will continue to have the option to withdraw their GET funds with no program penalties and receive either the $117.82 unit payout value, or their initial contributions (whichever is greater). Be aware that federal taxes and penalties may still apply to any account gains if refunds are not deposited into another qualified 529 plan within 60 days. Learn more about the non-penalty refund option on our GET and the College Affordability Program page.