Soaring tuition costs have become a concern not only for Virginia and Maryland families dropping their kids off at college next month, but for those whose children are just starting kindergarten.

The number of Virginians investing in state-run savings programs to help pay for college down the road dropped 70 percent over the last nine years, from more than 10,000 in 2003 to about 3,000 in 2012. In Maryland, participation in the so-called prepaid tuition 529 programs dropped by more than 45 percent, from 4,300 in 2003 to 2,300 in 2011, the latest year of available data.