1. http://news.morningstar.com/article/article.asp?id=155816
2. http://news.morningstar.com/article/article.asp?id=137874
3. http://www.savingforcollege.com

Quick summary of all 529 plans and compare tool (morningstar

1. http://www.morningstar.com/529/529Table.html
2. Rating system on http://www.savingforcollege.com

Excellent college education cost calculator
Nebraska 529 website has this excellent calculator. Gives you idea of how much college education will cost in future and how much you should save. It has options to select different regions of US, different types of school e.g. private or public schools, rate of inflation, growth, number of years, initial investment etc: http://www.planforcollegenow.com/costcalc.htm

List of colleges approved for 529 qualified withdrawl
Here is the link to search such collges: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/fotw0607/fslookup.htm
Pretty much everything in US is covered. The list includes ~500 colleges in ~290 cities outside US.

Plans which you may want to consider

1. Alaska, Delaware, Nebraska, Utah (morningstar reco)
3. Nevada,Iowa, Michigan, NY, Ohio(investlist reco)
4. Nebraska (Made it to my top two)
6. Virginia (highest market cap, brokerage houses push this one)
8. Ohio has a 5% CD in case you are interested.

What to look for Variety of high quality investment options - consistent performance over long term should be the main goal.

Rules and regulations of the plan

1. Tax benefit,
2. Admin fees, Management fees and what-not Fees
4. Expense ratios
6. Annual fees for account mininums.
8. Ability to setup automatic periodical deductions
10. Any restrictions on what constitutes qualified withdrawls.

11. CollegeCoach Cisco provides this employee benefit where you can attend workshops and have personal 1-1 session with College Coach. I liked them. https://www.cisco.benefitsweb.com/benefitsweb/html/needAssistance.jsp?INDEX_TEXT_FILE=back_to_need_assistance_index&SUBJECT_TEXT_FILE=d_education

    Tax Considerations

    1. After tax money goes into 529
    2. Money grows in a tax deferred fasion
    4. Withdrawls are free from fed or state tax as long as it's a qualified withdrawl (college doesn't have to be in the 529 state or your home state but it must be in the fafsa list above)
    5. Earlier their was a sunset provision, now tax exemption has been made permanent>/li>
    6. Non-qualified withdrawls attract ( fed tax+ 10 % penalty) + state tax on the gains.
    7. For gift tax purposes you can contribute max of 12K per beneficiary annually or 60K per beneficiary per 5 years. Double it if both parents are contributing.
    If you think there is a chance that you would make non-qualified withdrawl then choosing 529 plans from states which don't have state taxes could be a good hedging strategy. Consider these scenarios:
    1. you keep money in high state tax state like CA and don't open 529 plan
    2. you open 529 plan in a state where there is no state tax and you had to make a non-qualified withdrawl.
    4. you open 529 plan somewhere and make a qualified withdrawl.
    5. you open 529 plan in high state tax state and make a non-qualified withdrawl
    Let's assume fed tax is 30% and state tax is 7% In case a) you pay fed tax + state tax = 37% and in b) you pay fed tax + 10% penalty + no state tax = 40%. c) you pay 0% tax as you had a qualified withdrawl from 529, no fed or state tax. d) you pay fed tax + 10% + state tax = 47%

    State tax rates: http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/ind_inc.html Does CA provide tax break on 529 contribution?: No. Here is the link for the bill (dead?) proposed by Jakie Sapier: http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/billtrack/billdir.html?bill=SB_30&subscribe=yes
    investli@employees.org