OverviewSection 529 Plans (named after the section of the IRS Code that created them) are plans established to help families save and pay for college in a tax-advantaged way and are available to everyone, regardless of income. These state-sponsored plans allow you to gift large sums of money for a family member’s college education, while you maintain control of the funds. The earnings from these accounts grow tax-deferred and are tax-free if used to pay for qualified higher education expenses. They can be used as an estate-planning tool as well, providing a means to transfer large amounts of money without gift tax. With all these tax benefits, 529 plans are an excellent vehicle for college funding. Types of PlansSection 529 Plans come in two types, allowing you to either save funds in a tax-free account to be used later for higher education costs, or to prepay tuition for qualified universities. College Savings Plans – These allow you to contribute after-tax dollars that are invested in some sort of savings vehicle. Many of these plans offer more aggressive investments when a child is quite young, which will then be transferred to more conservative investments as the child gets closer to college age. As with any investment, there are no guarantees of growth, and the plans are subject to the normal investment risks, even though state governments sponsor them. A big plus for these plans is that they are not geared towards in-state schools but are meant to be applied to whichever school your child chooses to attend. Prepaid Tuition Plans – As the name implies, a Prepaid Tuition Plan allows parents to pay for college education at today’s tuition rates. By locking in your tuition payments, worries about the increase of tuition costs in the future can be set aside. This gives the assurance that the child will have the money to attend college when that time comes. These plans sound very attractive; however, most of these plans guarantee that you will be covered only if your child chooses to go to a public in-state college or university. Therefore, if your child decides to attend an out-of-state school, you won’t be fully covered, simply because these plans are not meant to fund the higher costs of private or out-of-state education. However, prepaid tuition programs may be set up and maintained by private institutions, and distributions from private tuition plans are eligible for tax-free treatment. ControlIf you make sacrifices to save for a child’s college education, you certainly want to make sure those savings end up being used for college and not some other purpose. 529 Plans allow you to keep control of the account. If you save money for college in a UGMA or UTMA (the name depends on the state in which you live and are essentially custodial accounts, set up for minors), the account becomes the child’s property once he or she reaches the age of majority – usually 18 or 21 and you lose control. Unlike UGMA/UTMAs, Section 529 plans are not irrevocable gifts and you retain control. Control stays in the hands of the adult responsible for the account. Generally, this is the same person who contributed the money, but it doesn’t have to be the case. Someone else, for example a grandparent, could make the donation but name the child’s parent as the account owner. Money does not come out of the account without permission from the account owner. If the designated beneficiary of the plan decides not to go to school, then the account owner can simply change the beneficiary to someone else in the family. Tax BenefitsThere is no federal tax deduction for making contributions to a 529 plan, but taxes on the earnings within the plan are tax-deferred while they are held in the account, and are tax-free when withdrawn to pay for qualified education expenses. This allows you to accumulate money for college at a much faster rate than you can in an account where you had to pay tax on the investment gains and earnings. In the graph below, compare the growth of $10,000 accumulating tax-free (the purple line) to the same $10,000 after taxes (the black line). To be tax-free when withdrawn, the funds must be used to pay for qualified college expenses such as tuition, room and board, books, supplies, and equipment. The more time you have until your child needs the money for college, the more significant this tax-free compounding becomes. How Much Can Be Contributed?Unlike the Coverdell Education Savings Accounts that limit the anual contribution to $2,000, Sec 529 Plans allow you to put away larger amounts of money. There are no income or age limitations for the Sec 529 Plans. The maximum amount that can be contributed per beneficiary is based on the projected cost of a college education and will vary between state plans. Some states base their maximum on an in-state four-year education, while others use the cost of the most expensive schools in the U.S., including graduate studies. The limits for most states range from $235,000 to $520,800. Generally, once an account reaches the state designated maximum, additional contributions cannot be made, but that doesn’t prevent the account from continuing to grow. Contributions to a 529 college savings plan must, by Federal law, be made in cash and always consist of after-tax money. Most programs also have a minimum contribution that is within everyone’s budget. Many have payroll or automatic withdrawal programs. PenaltiesIf the earnings from the 529 Plan are withdrawn and not used for higher-education expenses, the earnings withdrawn will be subject to both regular taxes and a 10% penalty. Before you become concerned, refer back to Figure #1. Had you not utilized the tax deferral benefits of the Sec 529 Plan, you would have accumulated significantly less in the account, which will generally more than offset the 10% penalty. You can avoid penalties by making a tax and penalty-free rollover from one 529 Plan to another, and remember that you are able to change beneficiaries to a 529 Plan without penalty. Impact on Financial Aid