Cartoon tortoise stars in Nevada college savings blitz

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CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — If talk of tax deductions and 529 college savings plans is putting Nevadans to sleep, the state treasurer's office hopes to spice up the conversation with Sage, a spunky, cartoon desert tortoise.

The kid-friendly character, brought to life in TV commercials by a former Pixar animator, is the face of a major new initiative called "Nevada Saves: Let's Go to College." A marketing blitz set to begin Aug. 20 aims to raise awareness and participation in Nevada's suite of college savings programs, including 529 savings plans, prepaid tuition, College Kickstart and the Millennium Scholarship.

"We can shift the culture here in Nevada to make every student believe they can go to college," said Bryan Bedera, president of Amplify Relations, which is coordinating the advertising campaign along with the Abbi Agency. "If we want to push Nevada forward into the future, we need to change the way Nevadans think about college and education, and the way Nevadans think about savings."

The campaign comes about a month after the state Board of Examiners approved $800,000 in marketing contracts to promote state savings programs. It will include radio commercials, mailers and a bus tour this fall featuring a costumed Sage character.

Four different TV spots, which will air at discounted public service announcement rates, feature the animated Sage interacting with human actors and, in one case, Treasurer Dan Schwartz.

"Sage engages kids for the first time in a big way in college savings," Bedera said. "This whole campaign is centered around talking to kids first, and getting kids to talk to their parents about college."

The treasurer's office has had a similar budget in the past to promote the programs, Hewitt said, but they've been marketed separately. The new initiative promotes them all together, encouraging parents to explore more than one option to make college affordable.

"The reality is somebody who signs up (for) a Nevada prepaid tuition plan — that's covering their tuition. But they probably have books, room and board," Hewitt said, and could use a 529 college savings plan too.

In addition to a bus tour that will stop at malls, schools and events in rural Nevada in October and November, the treasurer's office hopes to integrate discussions of college savings into the classroom itself.

Amplify hired elementary schoolteacher Rebecca Jackson to help them develop an age-appropriate, Common Core-aligned curriculum so teachers know how to discuss college as part of everyday lessons. Worksheets provided through the campaign can be used to turn an ordinary math lesson into a savings-themed one, for example.

The program is based on the principle that students are more likely to go to college if they know someone is saving on their behalf, regardless of how much money is socked away. That philosophy led the previous treasurer's administration to launch College Kickstart — a program that gives every kindergartner in the state a college savings account and $50 in seed money.

Hewitt said enrolling in the programs is prudent even if a family can't save nearly enough to cover the full cost of college.

"It's not about saving enough. It's about taking the debt load off," Hewitt said. "You are setting your child up for a better future because they don't have that debt load when they get out of college."

The treasurer's office wants to increase program participation, but it hasn't publicized exact numerical targets. It currently has 18,373 prepaid tuition contracts, about a third of which are inactive; about 67,000 participants in College Kickstart; 12,992 Millennium Scholarship participants this past academic year; and 12,821 signed up with a 529 savings plan.