When faced with the high cost of college, you want to find and take advantage of every opportunity that you can to cut down on your out-of-pocket expenses, before you give in and take out loans. So after you’ve applied for all of the grants, scholarships, and other non-loan financial aid that you can, it’s [...]
Posts under ‘529’
The Downside of Prepaid Tuition
When planning to save for future college expenses, you may run across several options – including insurance policies, savings bonds, retirement accounts and specific education accounts, such as Coverdell Education Savings and Section 529 plans. Among the options for Section 529 plans are two types of account: savings and prepaid tuition. Following is a brief [...]
20 Questions About 529 Plans
Below is a reprint of an interaction that I had with an anonymous individual several years ago on a web bulletin board, as I thought the 20 questions that the individual listed might be interesting to you. I’ve reviewed the list and updated responses where laws have changed or where I was more snarky than [...]
Coverdell Education Savings Account to Change After 2010
You might want to file this one under the “who cares?” section… Yet another expiring tax provision at the end of tax year 2010 is the expansion of the Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA) that came into effect with EGTRRA 2001. Through 2010 Until the end of 2010, you are eligible to make non-deductible contributions [...]
Economic Slowdown Impacts Prepaid Tuition Plans
Several months ago I pointed out an article where the Illinois prepaid tuition plan, CollegeIllinois!, seemed to be elated over the impacts of the economic downturn on other types of 529 savings plans. Essentially these prepaid plans offer a guarantee of value – the cost of a semester of college at an in-state public institution [...]
401(kids)? A Rehash of the Coverdell
With much fanfare, Illinois congressman and US Senate candidate Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) has pushed his plan, adorably referred to as 401(kids) (see news story here). But what is this plan he’s referring to? Unless I’m missing something, this is the Coverdell ESA (Education Savings Account) that has been in existence for quite some time now. Kirk’s [...]
A Change (not for the better) For Illinois’ 529 Plans
In case you happened to miss it, the Illinois legislature last year passed an addition to the Revenue Code that requires recapture of deductions that you may have taken for contributions to one of the Illinois 529 plans. 529 Contribution Deduction Recapture For years, the Illinois 529 plans – BrightStart, Bright Directions, and College Illinois! [...]
BrightStart / Oppenheimer Update
As we previously discussed in this post, the Illinois State Treasurer, Alexi Giannoulias is taking Oppenheimer to task for it’s sins with regard to the BrightStart 529 plan, an Illinois-based college savings plan. This is in regard to Oppenheimer’s use of inappropriately risky investments in a supposedly safe, bond-oriented, allocation for the plan. Just recently, [...]
Illinois’ BrightStart Plan Woes
Note: an update to this story can be found here. If you’re an Illinois (among other states, see Note below) parent of a child heading to college or already in college, then you may already be painfully aware of the “Oppenheimer problem” that the BrightStart 529 plan has encountered. Briefly, one of the Oppenheimer mutual fund choices (formerly) available [...]
Education Benefits of ARRA 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA 2009) included three provisions for higher education benefits: changes to the HOPE education credit program, increases in the Pell Grant limits, and expansion of the types of expenses considered Qualified Higher Education Expenses for §529 college savings plans. Changes to the HOPE Education Credit Program (renamed American Opportunity Tax Credit) The [...]
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