529 Plan Program Statistics
Fourth Quarter 2012

Washington, DC, March 14, 2013 - The combined assets of all Section 529 plans—“qualified tuition programs” designed to help save for higher education expenses—were $190.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012. At the end of December 2012, prepaid plans accounted for $21.8 billion, while savings plans held another $168.9 billion.

State 529 Plan Assets
Billions of dollars, end-of-period, 2000–2012

Note: Data were estimated for a few individual state observations in the early years in order to construct a continuous time series.
Sources: Investment Company Institute and College Savings Plans Network

Number of Section 529 Plan Accounts Increases

The number of Section 529 plan accounts was approximately 11.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. There were 1.2 million prepaid plan accounts and 9.9 million savings plan accounts.

State 529 Plan Accounts
Millions of accounts/contracts, end-of-period, 2000–2012

*Totals are approximate. Exact figures are not available because of missing observations.
Note: A single beneficiary may have more than one account. Starting in 2005, the survey requests number of unique beneficiaries where possible. Accounts data collected prior to 2009 cannot be compared to newer data due to a change in the data collection methodology. 
Sources: Investment Company Institute and College Savings Plans Network

For additional information on 529 plans, see ICI’s Frequently Asked Questions About 529 Plans. For additional 529 plan data, please contact the College Savings Plans Network.