Savingforcollege.com Announces Quarterly List of Best-Performing 529 Plans

Newest installment of its 529 Plan Performance Rankings show Kansas and South Carolina at the top


NEW YORK, Aug. 24  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- According to a new study released by Savingforcollege.com, the Schwab 529 College Savings Plan, sponsored by the state of Kansas, and South Carolina's Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan came in first or second among all direct-sold 529 savings plans in three-year and five-year investment performance for the period ending June 30, 2009. The full 529 Plan Performance Rankings showing one-year, three-year, and five-year rankings for all direct-sold 529 plans can be viewed at http://www.savingforcollege.com/articles/view.php?id=330.

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The Schwab 529 College Savings Plan is distributed by discount broker Charles Schwab & Co. and by independent advisers associated with Schwab. The plan is managed by American Century Investment Management Inc., but it uses mutual funds from a wide variety of fund firms in its age-based and asset-allocation options. Kansas has another direct-sold 529 plan called Learning Quest that scored in the top 5 for three-year performance.

South Carolina's Future Scholar is available only to South Carolina residents on a direct-sold basis. (An advisor-sold plan is sold nationally.) The plan is managed by Columbia Management Distributors, Inc. and features Columbia Funds mutual funds.

Other top five direct-sold finishers in either one-, three, or five-year performance categories included two of Nevada's plans (USAA and Upromise), West Virginia's SMART529 Select plan that uses DFA funds, and plans from Iowa, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Utah.

"The second quarter of 2009 was a period of strong recovery for many 529 plans," commented Savingforcollege.com founder Joseph Hurley. "Just as with IRAs, accounts invested at least partially in stocks regained some of the value lost over the many months since 2007."

In producing its rankings, Savingforcollege.com compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. Portfolios were selected based on their mix of stocks, bonds, and money-market funds, allowing for an apples-to-apples comparison in seven different asset-allocation categories.

Savingforcollege.com also produces rankings for advisor-sold 529 plans, available through a subscription. Rankings are updated each quarter.

  One-year Composite Performance Rankings (52 plans ranked)

  Ranking   Plan                                      Underlying investments

  1   Kansas: Schwab 529 College Savings Plan**       Multiple fund families
  2   Nevada: USAA College Savings Plan*              USAA mutual funds
  3   South Carolina: Future Scholar 529
        College Savings Plan (Direct-sold)*           Columbia mutual funds
  4   West Virginia: SMART529 Select                  DFA funds
  5   New York: New York's 529 College Savings
        Program - Direct Plan                         Vanguard funds
  6   Missouri: MOST - Missouri's 529 College
        Savings Plan (Direct-sold)                    Multiple fund families
  7   Nevada: The Vanguard 529 Savings Plan           Vanguard funds
  8   Nevada: The Upromise College Fund               Vanguard funds
  9   Utah: Utah Educational Savings Plan
       (UESP) Trust                                   Treasurer's fund and
                                                          Vanguard funds
  10  Maryland: College Savings Plans of
        Maryland - College Investment Plan            T. Rowe Price funds



  Three-year Composite Performance Rankings (43 plans ranked)

  Ranking   Plan                                      Underlying investments

  1   South Carolina: Future Scholar 529
        College Savings Plan (Direct-sold)*           Columbia mutual funds
  2   Kansas: Schwab 529 College Savings Plan**       Multiple fund families
  3   Ohio: Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan    Multiple fund families
  4   Missouri: MOST - Missouri's 529 College
        Savings Plan (Direct-sold)                    Multiple fund families
  5   Kansas: Learning Quest 529 Education
      Savings Program (Direct-sold)                   American Century and
                                                          Vanguard funds
  6   Nevada: The Upromise College Fund               Vanguard funds
  7   Nevada: The Vanguard 529 Savings Plan           Vanguard funds
  8   Iowa: College Savings Iowa                      Vanguard funds
  9   Arkansas: GIFT College Investing Plan           Vanguard funds
  10  Utah: Utah Educational Savings Plan
        (UESP) Trust                                  Treasurer's fund and
                                                          Vanguard funds


  Five-year Composite Performance Rankings (30 plans ranked)

  Ranking   Plan                                      Underlying investments

  1   Kansas: Schwab 529 College Savings Plan**       Multiple fund families
  2   South Carolina: Future Scholar 529
        College Savings Plan (Direct-sold)*           Columbia mutual funds
  3   Utah: Utah Educational Savings Plan
        (UESP) Trust                                  Treasurer's fund and
                                                          Vanguard funds
  4   Iowa: College Savings Iowa                      Vanguard funds
  5   Nevada: The Upromise College Fund               Vanguard funds
  6   Nebraska: College Savings Plan of
        Nebraska (Direct-sold)                        Multiple fund families
  7   Nevada: The Vanguard 529 Savings Plan           Vanguard funds
  8   New Jersey: NJBEST 529 College Savings Plan*    Franklin Templeton
                                                          funds
  9   Wisconsin: EdVest (Direct-sold)                 Wells Fargo and
                                                          Vanguard funds
  10  Alaska: T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan      T. Rowe Price funds

  * Resident-only or member-only investment options
  ** Available only through the discount broker


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The Bankrate network of companies includes Bankrate.com, Interest.com, Mortgage-calc.com, Nationwide Card Services, Savingforcollege.com, Fee Disclosure, InsureMe CreditCardGuide.com and Bankaholic.  Each of these businesses helps consumers to make informed decisions about their personal finance matters. The company's flagship brand, Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including banking, investing, taxes, debt management and college finance. Bankrate.com is the leading aggregator of rates and other information on more than 300 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees. Bankrate.com reviews more than 4,800 financial institutions in 575 markets in 50 states. In 2008, Bankrate.com had nearly 72 million unique visitors. Bankrate.com provides financial applications and information to a network of more than 75 partners, including Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), America Online (NYSE: TWX), The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (NYSE:NYT). Bankrate.com's information is also distributed through more than 500 newspapers.

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  Chris Spagnuolo
  Public Relations Manager
  
  [phone]


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