or Mary Schraml, a registered nurse and recent widow living in Alexandria, Va., it was one less headache to worry about.

With the stroke of a pen, Schraml put to rest any worries about paying for her youngest daughter's college tuition.

Brooke, the youngest of the Schraml's four kids and now 14, is guaranteed four years of tuition at any public college in Virginia (provided she gets in, of course).

Early in 1997, Brooke's mom bought a contract from the Virginia Prepaid Education Program, making a lump-sum payment of roughly $16,000. No matter how high tuition bills rise, Brooke is covered for four years of tuition.

"By buying this, it took the consideration of tuition completely off my mind," Schraml says. "And it also lets Brooke know she has four years of tuition fully paid up."

Schraml isn't alone in trying to short-circuit skyrocketing college tuition costs. Hundreds of thousands of American families are rushing to sign up for prepaid college tuition plans.

They're looking to escape the climb in tuition costs by locking in at today's rates, years before their children utter their first complaint about dorm food.

Twenty-three states now offer prepaid tuition programs, covering some three quarters of a million contracts. Sixteen or more states plan to have programs in place by the year 2000.

Most schemes now cover public colleges only in a single state. But their popularity clearly has private schools nervous, and they too are concocting similar plans.

In Massachusetts, for instance, you can buy a program that includes several private colleges as well as public schools. In addition, private colleges nationally are joining ranks to establish their own prepayment plans, with no state restrictions.

The National Prepaid Tuition Consortium is assembling a nationwide network of private colleges to offer a prepayment system similar to the Massachusetts plan. The consortium already has 20 member schools, including Vanderbilt, Rice and Emory, and hopes to take in hundreds more soon. "The market for dedicated savings for college is only going to get bigger," says Bill Montjoy, the former head of Florida's prepaid program, one of the country's biggest. "It's going to be absolutely huge in the next five to 10 years."

Prepaid tuition programs boil down to two basic types. The state plans are the simplest and most common, and typically cover the state-resident tuition at public colleges within the borders of that state. Purchasers must be residents.

You buy a future college education at today's cost, with either a lump-sum payment or on the installment plan.

For example, a young Dallas couple with a new baby would pay $11,000 today for a guaranteed four years of college starting in the year 2016.

The couple could also sign up for a 10-year plan, making annual payments of a little more than $1,500 for each of 10 years to earn the same tuition credit.

Plans involving private schools are a bit more complicated, because not all the schools in the program charge the same tuition. The Massachusetts plan, for example, covers more than 80 public and private schools throughout the state. How much tuition the payments buy depends upon each school's own fees.

For instance, $10,000 invested will guarantee a much greater share at the University of Massachusetts than it will at more costly private schools such as Amherst and Wellesley.

Most current programs guarantee tuition at state and community colleges within that particular state. If the student decides to go to an out-of-state or a private school, many states will pay only the equivalent in-state public tuition.

That is not likely enough to cover non-resident tuition bills elsewhere, let alone the cost of an expensive private college.

The financial damage is a lot worse if your son or daughter ends up not going to college at all. Many programs will only refund your principal plus a modest amount of interest. Alabama won't pay out any interest, and even deducts a handling fee.

And, you may be out of luck if you need to get the money fast from Ohio's program - the state requires a one-year "cooling off" period before any refunds are disbursed.

There's another problem with pre-paid tuition plans. Your son or daughter will not qualify for as much financial aid, because the value of the plan will be credited to him or her. Federal-aid formulas weigh students' financial holdings far more heavily than their parents'.

Wouldn't parents be better off simply setting money aside in, say, something like a mutual fund, instead of parking funds in a tuition plan with so many strings attached?

For instance, let's take another look at that Dallas couple with the newborn. Under the Texas Tomorrow Fund program they can now buy four years of public college tuition starting in 2016, for a total of $11,000. That's a little less than the tuition cost for residents today.

It's conceivable that tuition could double by the time that newborn is ready for campus - to about $25,000. In that case, the Dallas couple will have bought a bachelor's degree for less than half-price - a good deal in anyone's eyes. Even if they did buy it 18 years early.

But that represents a rather modest 4 percent annual return. If the couple put that $11,000 into a mutual fund averaging 8 percent a year, it would grow to about $44,000 by the time junior hits campus. At 10 percent, it would grow to about $56,000. Even a lackluster portfolio should beat the prepayment plan by a country mile.

Furthermore, there are no restrictions on where or how the couple could spend that money.

The popularity of prepaid tuition plans is largely due to soaring tuition costs, which have risen more than 230 percent in the past 15 years.

Today's parents, many of whom watched college costs spiral when they themselves were undergrads, want inflation protection. And they are willing to pay a lot for it. Too much, it seems.

For one thing, the days of outrageous annual increases in tuition are over. The rate of annual increases has been shrinking the last few years, and is expected to continue doing so. A few schools have even lowered tuition.

Take this fig leaf away from the prepayment plans and their drawbacks are even more obvious. In short, they're not very good financial deals

Expect them to grow in popularity, however. One reason: Proud alumni will hop on the programs, especially as more private schools offer them.

The alums can then boast they've not only enrolled their little prince or princess in their alma mater at birth, they've already paid the tuition. Grandpa could be a sucker for this one.

More important, bad deal or not, a prepayment plan offers convenience, no risk and peace of mind. It's a one-shot cure for what is often a major financial headache in many families, especially where divorce enters the picture.

"It may not be the absolute greatest decision you can make," notes financial planner Joel Ticknor, "but it can certainly take college costs off the worry list."