529 Plan Details:
Enter your state:
World's Simplest College Calculator:
How old is your child?
Find a 529 Pro:
Enter your zip code:
Enroll In a 529 Plan:
2012 plan performance rankings Q3
Each quarter Savingforcollege.com analyzes the investment performance figures for thousands of 529 portfolios and ranks the 529 savings plans from best to worst for one-year investment performance, three-year investment performance, five-year investment performance and ten-year investment performance.
The top-performing 529 plans
In producing our rankings, we compared the reported investment performance of a subset of portfolios from each 529 savings plan. The lower the "percentile," the better the ranking. For more details on our methodology.
Here are our 529 performance rankings as of September 30, 2012.
We ranked plans that consumers can enroll in directly (see below), as well as those sold through brokers and fee-based financial planners).
One-year performance ranking
| Rank | State | Plan | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan | 23.44 |
| 2 | Alaska | University of Alaska College Savings Plan | 24.30 |
| 3 | South Dakota | CollegeAccess 529 (Direct-sold) | 24.97 |
| 4 | New York | New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan | 32.20 |
| 5 | West Virginia | SMART529 WV Direct | 32.48 |
| 6 | Maryland | College Savings Plans of Maryland -- College Investment Plan | 35.65 |
| 7 | Maine | NextGen College Investing Plan -- Client Direct Series | 35.68 |
| 8 | Michigan | Michigan Education Savings Program | 37.20 |
| 9 | District of Columbia | DC 529 College Savings Program (Direct-sold) | 38.36 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma College Savings Plan | 39.88 |
See the full list of one-year direct-sold rankings.
Three-year performance ranking
| Rank | State | Plan | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan | 28.42 |
| 2 | Michigan | Michigan Education Savings Program | 28.46 |
| 3 | New York | New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan | 28.56 |
| 4 | Alaska | University of Alaska College Savings Plan | 28.61 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania 529 Investment Plan | 32.05 |
| 6 | South Dakota | CollegeAccess 529 (Direct-sold) | 32.76 |
| 7 | Maryland | College Savings Plans of Maryland -- College Investment Plan | 35.54 |
| 8 | Minnesota | Minnesota College Savings Plan | 35.65 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma College Savings Plan | 35.90 |
| 10 | Florida | Florida College Investment Plan | 37.63 |
See the full list of three-year direct-sold rankings.
Five-year performance ranking
| Rank | State | Plan | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | Florida College Investment Plan | 16.16 |
| 2 | Nevada | USAA 529 College Savings Plan | 20.06 |
| 3 | Utah | Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) Trust | 25.93 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania 529 Investment Plan | 30.94 |
| 5 | New York | New York's 529 College Savings Program -- Direct Plan | 31.09 |
| 6 | Kansas | Schwab 529 College Savings Plan | 31.52 |
| 7 | Michigan | Michigan Education Savings Program | 31.65 |
| 8 | Georgia | Path2College 529 Plan | 32.82 |
| 9 | Ohio | Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan | 35.18 |
| 10 | Iowa | College Savings Iowa | 36.80 |
See the full list of five-year direct-sold rankings.
Ten-year performance ranking
| Rank | State | Plan | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan | 17.66 |
| 2 | Alaska | University of Alaska College Savings Plan | 25.43 |
| 3 | Maryland | College Savings Plans of Maryland -- College Investment Plan | 32.56 |
| 4 | Louisiana | START Saving Program | 35.04 |
| 5 | Virginia | Virginia Education Savings Trust (VEST) | 39.87 |
| 6 | Iowa | College Savings Iowa | 43.63 |
| 7 | South Carolina | Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) | 55.83 |
| 8 | Rhode Island | CollegeBoundfund (Direct-sold, Alternative RI) | 58.52 |
| 9 | Delaware | Delaware College Investment Plan | 71.47 |
| 10 | New Hampshire | UNIQUE College Investing Plan | 73.28 |
See the full list of ten-year direct-sold rankings.
For broker-sold plan rankings and fee-based financial planners.
College Calculator
The simplest way to estimate college costs.
Login to My Account