NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI), one of the world's leading index providers, today announced the launch of the S&P Target Tuition Inflation Index, a benchmark designed to capture for market participants college tuition inflation over the long term.

The S&P Target Tuition Inflation Index is comprised of existing total return indices covering U.S. inflation-linked treasury securities (TIPS), U.S. corporate bonds and a short overlay of U.S. equities. The indices used to represent each asset class are:

• S&P U.S. Treasury TIPS 1-10 Year Index;
• S&P U.S. Treasury TIPS 15+ Year Index;
• S&P 500 Bond Index;
• S&P 500®.

"The rise in college tuition has vastly exceeded broad inflation in recent years," said Jodie Gunzberg, Managing Director, Product Management at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "While TIPS are designed to move with general inflation as measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI), the S&P  Target Tuition Inflation Index tracks a combination of stocks and bonds to reflect tuition inflation risk, which has exceeded general CPI historically. The benchmark helps college savers combine TIPS with breakeven inflation, credit spreads and a short equity risk premium."

S&P Dow Jones Indices is a global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. For more information about S&P Dow Jones Indices, please visit www.spdji.com.

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S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500^® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average^®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has become home to over 1,000,000 indices across the spectrum of asset classes that have helped define the way investors measure and trade the markets.

S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spdji.com.

SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices