Posts Tagged ‘college savings plan’

Prepaid Education

Posted on: February 3rd, 2015 by

Financial Planning - Rockville, MDSection 529 of the tax code established 2 types of higher education investment plans that will also provide you with preferential tax treatment.  The 529 college savings plan allows assets in the account to grow and your withdrawals for college expenses to be made tax free.    The second type, a 529 prepaid tuition plan, also known as prepaid educational arrangements (PEAs), provides tax-deferred growth on savings for tuition, based on the current cost of that tuition.

Prepaid Educational Arrangements can be purchased in units, usually credit hours or a percentage of the annual tuition fee, or in contracts for 1 to 5 years of tuition.    Payments can be made in a lump sum or in installments.  The states that administer PEAs guarantee that your investment will, at the very lease, match college tuition increases.  For that reason, these plans are typically much more conservative than other types of college savings, so they may not be appropriate for late-stage college saving.

Because PEAs can be purchased for the student by anyone, they allow aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even unrelated benefactors to help with educational costs and, depending on the state, receive a break on their taxes.  Most PEAs are transferable to other members of your family, including parents, brothers, sisters, and children if the original beneficiary decides not to attend college.  The distributions from the PEAs are not taxed by the Federal government as long as they’re used for tuition and fees. The primary drawback, however, is that states administering these plans usually require that the funds be used for a school in that state.  That may be a difficult commitment to make if your child is young and his/her “future” career is pretty much up in the air, although the ability to transfer to another family member gives you one option if plans change.

PEAs are just one of the extensive opportunities for securing your child’s future and typically contain less risk.  By meeting with a trusted financial professional and finding out your options, you will move yourself one step closer to helping your child take part in the most important investment of their lives: their education.