The investments that make up Maryland’s statewide college savings plan took an enormous hit last year, increasing the pressure to hold college tuition steady even as the state budget demands otherwise.

Money in the state’s prepaid college trust, a savings program that allows families to lock in tuition rates long before their students attend college, declined by more than 20 percent, resulting in a deficit of more than $52 million, according to its 2009 annual report.

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