529 Fees Under Fire

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Several financial experts recently tolda US Congressional subcommittee thatstate-sponsored 529 college savings planswere doing a poor job of disclosing feesto prospective investors. Parents of college-bound children often pay several feeswhen signing up for a 529 plan, includingenrollment, administrative, and even brokerfees as high as 5.7%. Some of thosetestifying called for a uniform fee disclosurerequirement for all 529 plans, whilenoting that the layers of fees could wipeout the tax advantages that are the primaryreason to put money into a 529plan. You can avoid broker fees bybuying into a state's 529 plan directly,which most state plans allow. For evaluationsof individual state 529 plans, take alook at FinAid's ratings (www.finaid.org/savings/529ratings.phtml).