Frequently asked questions.

When you enroll in CollegeChoice Advisor you choose to invest in one or more of 18 different investment options, including Year of Enrollment Portfolios, Individual Portfolios, and a Savings Portfolio, based upon your investing preferences and risk tolerance. All of the contributions made to your Account grow tax-deferred and the distributions are federally and Indiana state tax-free if used for qualified expenses.¹

Eligible expenses can include tuition, mandatory fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for enrollment or attendance; certain room and board costs during any academic period the beneficiary is enrolled at least half-time; and certain expenses for a special-needs student.

CollegeChoice Advisor Investment options are managed by: American Funds; The Boston Company Asset Management, LLC; BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A; BlackRock Advisors, Diamond Hill Capital Management, Inc; NexBank, Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO), T. Rowe Price, and Vanguard.

Any U.S. citizen or resident alien, 18 or older, or an entity that is organized in the U.S., with a Social Security number and a valid, permanent U.S. street address, can open a CollegeChoice Advisor account, regardless of income level. Parents, grandparents, other family, and friends can open an account for anyone they choose.² Any number of people can contribute to the same CollegeChoice Advisor account, but total contributions cannot exceed $450,000 per beneficiary.

Any person of any age with a Social Security number can be named as the beneficiary of a CollegeChoice Advisor account. As account owner, you can select a child, adult or even yourself as beneficiary. If a beneficiary decides not to attend college, you can name another beneficiary who is a qualified member of the same family as the original beneficiary. Please see the Disclosure Statement for more information on who qualifies.

Yes. As account owner you choose the portfolios in which you invest, as well as the distribution of the funds.

Contact your financial advisor, who will walk you through the enrollment process. Together, you will review investment options, plan specifics, and how CollegeChoice Advisor can fit into your overall financial plan. To open an account, you will complete an enrollment form and make an initial investment for the beneficiary of your choice.

You can establish an account with as little as $25 and make monthly investments of $25 or more. More than one person can contribute to the same account until total contributions reach $450,000. After that, the account can grow only through investment earnings.

The Plan is required by federal law to obtain certain personal information, which will be used to verify the account owner's identity. If you don't provide the requested information, we will not be able to open the account. If we are unable to verify the account owner's identity, the Plan reserves the right to close the account or take other steps we deem reasonable. Your beneficiary's Social Security number is also required for tax-reporting purposes.

Yes. You may perform a federal income tax-free rollover from another 529 plan into your CollegeChoice Advisor account for the same beneficiary once every 12 months. You may also perform a federal income tax-free rollover from another 529 plan into your CollegeChoice Advisor account at any time when you change the beneficiary to a qualifying family member of the current beneficiary. Please note that, effective January 1, 2010, rollovers from another state's qualified tuition program will no longer be eligible for the Indiana state income tax credit.

The Plan charges a program management fee of 0.33% and an Administrative Fee of 0.10% (except for the Savings Portfolio). In addition, an Annual Account Maintenance Fee of $20 is charged to each account; this fee is waived if the combined account balance for the same account owner and beneficiary is equal to or greater than $25,000, or if the account owner or the beneficiary is an Indiana resident. These fees are in addition to the expense ratios of each investment option. Please refer to the Disclosure Statement for more information.

No. You can use the assets in your account toward the costs of nearly any public or private, 2-year or 4-year college nationwide, as long as the student is enrolled in a U.S.-accredited college, university, or technical school that is eligible to participate in U.S. Department of Education student financial aid programs. In fact, many U.S. colleges and universities now have campuses or locations outside of the country, where money from your CollegeChoice Advisor account can be used.

• Electronic funds transfer (opening contribution of $25) from your checking or savings account
• Automatic investment plan³ (opening contribution of $25) with scheduled contributions in set amounts from your checking or savings account
• Payroll direct deposit (of $25 or more) through participating employers
• Check (made payable to CollegeChoice Advisor)
• Rollover from another 529 plan
• Rollover from an Education Savings Account or a qualified Series EE or Series I U.S. Savings Bond
• Transfer from an UGMA/UTMA account
• Ugift (minimum of $25)
• Upromise rewards (minimum of $25)

Investment returns will vary depending upon the performance of the Portfolios you choose. Except to the extent of the FDIC insurance available for the Savings Portfolio, depending on market conditions, you could lose all or a portion of your money by investing in CollegeChoice Advisor. Account Owners assume all investment risks as well as responsibility for any federal and state tax consequences.

Yes. You can change the direction of your future contributions at any time. Federal law permits you to move the assets in your CollegeChoice Advisor account to a different mix of investment options twice per calendar year.

Ugift is an innovative program that lets you leverage your social networks to invite family and friends to help you save for college.

Upromise is a free to join rewards program that can turn every day purchases — from shopping online to dining out, from booking travel to buying groceries — into cash back for college. A percentage of your eligible spending will be deposited into your Upromise account. You can link your Upromise account to your eligible 529 account and have your college savings automatically transferred. Visit Upromise.com/CCAdvisor to learn more and enroll.

Upromise is an optional service offered by Upromise, Inc., is separate from the CollegeChoice Advisor 529 Savings Plan, and is not affiliated with the State of Indiana. Terms and conditions apply to the Upromise service. Participating companies, contribution levels, and terms and conditions are subject to change at any time without notice. Transfers from Upromise to a CollegeChoice Advisor 529 Savings Plan account are subject to a $25 minimum.

Upromise and the Upromise logo are registered service marks of Upromise, Inc. Ugift is a registered service mark of Ascensus Broker Dealer Services, Inc. All other marks are the exclusive property of their respective owners.

529 plan assets are counted at different rates for the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) in the FAFSA formula. As of July 1, 2009, federal guidelines are as follows:

• If the student is a dependent, a 529 plan account is considered as the parent's asset (if the account owner is the parent or the dependent student). As a result, it will generally be counted at a rate of only 3-6% of its value for the EFC.
• If the student is not a dependent and is the account owner, the 529 plan account is treated as the student's asset and is generally factored into the EFC at the higher rate of 20%.
• In other cases, the account does not count as an asset for federal financial aid purposes. (However, a student may have to report distributions received from the account as income for these purposes.)
• Beginning with FAFSA applications for the 2024-2025 academic year, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, distributions from a non-parent-owned 529 accounts will no longer need to be reported as the student’s taxable income on the FAFSA.)

Note: Financial aid programs offered by educational institutions and other non-federal sources may have their own guidelines for the treatment of 529 plan accounts. For complete information about financial aid eligibility, you should consult with a financial aid professional and/or the state or educational institution offering a particular financial aid program, since rules and regulations often change.

If you and your beneficiary are Indiana residents, there is no impact on state financial aid. For more information on Indiana state financial aid, click here.

Yes. Contributions by Indiana taxpayers made on or after January 1, 2023, will qualify for the 20% tax credit, with a new maximum of up to $1,500 ($750 for married filing separately). This credit may be subject to recapture from the account owner (not the contributor) in certain circumstances, such as a rollover to another state's qualified tuition program or a non-qualified withdrawal. Please note that, effective January 1, 2010, the Indiana state income tax credit will no longer apply to rollovers from another state's qualified tuition program or to transfers from the Upromise service into a CollegeChoice Advisor account. All other contributions will continue to be eligible for the tax credit to the extent previously allowable.

For more information on the tax credit, see Frequently Asked Questions on the Indiana Education Savings Authority website. (Note: You will be leaving this website.)

The earnings portion of a withdrawal not used for a beneficiary's qualified higher education expenses is subject to federal and state income taxes and a 10% federal penalty tax. Exceptions to a 10% federal penalty include a withdrawal made because the beneficiary:

• Has died (if paid to a beneficiary of the beneficiary or the estate of the beneficiary)
• Has become disabled
• Received a scholarship, to the extent the withdrawal amount does not exceed the scholarship amount
• Has enrolled in the United States Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Coast Guard Academy, or the United States Merchant Marine Academy, to the extent that the amount of the withdrawal does not exceed the costs of education attributable to such attendance

Any accumulated earnings that are withdrawn from your account must be included on the income tax return of the recipient for the tax year in which they are withdrawn. Contact your tax advisor about how to report a non-qualified withdrawal.

Effective January 1, 2024, 529 account owners will be able to rollover savings from their 529 plan account into a Roth IRA without incurring any federal income tax or penalty. The Roth IRA must belong to the same beneficiary, and the lifetime rollover limit is $35,000.⁵ To be eligible, the 529 account must have been open for at least 15 years and the rollover amount must have been in the 529 account for 5 years.

529 to Roth IRA rollovers will also count toward annual Roth IRA contribution limits, but Roth IRA income limits do not apply for this type of contribution. For more information, please read the Disclosure Booklet.