Ratings Criteria

We invest thousands of hours each year to compile and analyze data in creating our Saving For College 529 Ratings. The factors we examine and score for each 529 plan are grouped into four categories: Performance, Ease of Use, Savings Success, and Program Delivery.

A plan's four individual category scores are computed on a scale of 1 to 5 and carried out to two decimal places as displayed on the Plan Details page. The overall 529 Rating is a weighted average of these four category scores.

Performance

Each plan's performance score is based on performance of its age-based portfolios versus those of similar plans as captured in Saving For College's quarterly 529 Performance Rankings.

Ease of Use

We evaluate a variety of criteria when assigning an Ease of Use score to each plan, including the simplicity of enrolling in the plan, making contributions, and the ability to easily access and transact from any type of online device.

Savings Success

How well do a plan's features and fee structure enable a 529 saver to maximize their education savings? Positive Savings Success factors include a robust gifting platform and other plan features that promote savings. Negative Savings Success factors include annual or one-time fees that reduce the plan's account balance.

Program Delivery

We assign a Program Delivery rating as a measure of the likelihood that a 529 program will continue to deliver excellence. Among the factors considered here are program manager tenure, the impending risk of a management change, and the plan's actions to measure of customer service quality.

It is important to note that any particular individual would likely weight these four categories, as well as the individual factors within each, differently based on his or her own circumstances and preferences. For example, some investors might place more weight on historical investment performance than our ratings do, while others might place less weight on it.

In all of these categories we have established objective criteria with which to compare plans, often using numerical data as the basis to evaluate a factor's score.

Need even more details? Check out this whitepaper on our methodology.