If you're investigating Virginia's prepaid tuition plans this year, pay careful attention to the brochure.

A local student's winning entry in a poster contest is featured on the cover of the Virginia Prepaid Tuition Plan brochure.

Lauren Fabin, a 14-year-old freshman at Handley High School, was a first-place winner for her grade in last year's statewide art contest with the theme "Drawing Your Dreams."

For her colorful picture of fish and other aquatic life, Lauren won four years of tuition and fees at any Virginia public college or university, or a percentage of the costs of out-of-state or private universities.

Lauren - who lives in Berryville with her parents, Ronald and Janet Fabin, and her little brother, Adam - plans to be an oceanographer one day. Her mother is a public school teacher in Winchester. Her father teaches in Loudoun County.

With the prepaid tuition plan, parents can lock-in rates at public colleges and universities, even if their children won't be going to college for 18 years.

The state offers this plan for a limited amount of time each year. The deadline to enroll this year is Feb. 28.