MONEY Magazine

529 Guide 2007

See which plans are available in your state as well as Money Magazine's picks for your best options.

By Penelope Wang, Money Magazine senior writer
Additional reporting by Kathleen Knight

Tax-free withdrawals from 529s are now permanent, they don't hurt chances for financial aid and the offerings are better than ever. In other words, you'd be a fool to save for college any other way but in a 529 plan.

529 Guide
College savings plans may seem confusing. But it's nothing you can't handle by adhering to a few simple guidelines. (more)

The real question is which plan to pick. There are some 85 plans available nationwide – the 70 largest are listed below - with almost every state offering at least one program and some, like West Virginia, offering as many as five.

All 529 savings plans provide the same federal tax benefits: Your investment earnings grow free of income tax. Your withdrawals, as long as you use them to pay higher education bills, are untaxed as well. What you don't get is an up-front federal tax deduction.

But 32 states and the District of Columbia have stepped in where the feds have not, offering residents a write-off on state income taxes for at least a portion of their 529 contributions.

And three states - Kansas, Maine and Pennsylvania - even allow residents to deduct their contributions to out-of-state plans as well.

If you live in a high-tax state that offers a big deduction for 529 contributions, your best 529 plan is one in your own backyard - that is, as long as the plan also has reasonable expenses and offers solid investment choices. We selected 22 plans as top choices on this basis, in addition to another 5 whose strong management and low fees make them top choices not only for their own state's citizens, but for anyone whose in-state plan doesn't merit a star.

 
 
State: Plan name: Program Manager / Investments Offered Web site:
California The ScholarShare College Savings Plan Fidelity Investments / Fidelity Investments mutual funds www.scholarshare.com
Iowa College Savings Iowa Upromise Investments and Vanguard / Vanguard mutual funds www.collegesavingsiowa.com
Michigan Michigan Education Savings Program TIAA-CREF / TIAA-CREF mutual funds www.misaves.com
Nevada The Vanguard 529 Savings Plan Upromise Investments and Vanguard / Vanguard mutual funds www.vanguard.com
Utah Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) Trust Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority / Public Treasurer's Investment Fund and Vanguard mutual funds www.uesp.org/

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.