Tuition plans - prelude to calamity?

The higher education systems in a number of states could beheaded for financial calamity because of new college-tuition programsthat have been adopted in recent years, according to educationexperts who think many more states could soon put themselves in asimiliar predicament.

A handful of states already have adopted so-called guaranteedtuition plans, which, although popular, are not necessarily a soundfiscal approach for combating the nation's higher education costproblem, the experts say.

Under plans such as one already in use in Michigan, a parent ofa newborn infant could deposit $6,756 in that state's Education Trustright now to pre-pay four years of college …