More Georgia families are investing in college saving plans

ATLANTA — The stock market has taken major hits over the last two months, but even with so much financial uncertainty due to COVID-19, some Georgians are deciding that now is the time to invest in their children’s long-term success.

Georgia created the Path to College 529 Plan in 2002. Today there are 170,000 account holders and more than $3 billion set aside.

Mitch Seabaugh of the Georgia Student Finance Commission said that a dollar saved is one less dollar families will have to use on student loans, adding that “studies have shown that a child that has a 529 savings plan is seven times more likely to go to school.”

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Any Georgia resident can open an account plan regardless of their relationship to the child or where the child lives. It can be transferred to a qualifying family member and used widely.

Georgia State Treasurer Lynne Riley says families don’t have to wait years to receive some of the plan’s benefits, “Georgia taxpayers receive a Georgia tax benefit. They receive a deduction off their adjusted gross income in 2020 which is double [that of] prior years.”

Seabaugh says with $25 and 15 minutes, you can open an acoucnt plan online, “The sooner you start, the better [the] opportunities you have for the plan to grow.”

To learn more about a 529 plan click here or call the state’s 529 information line at 1-877-424-4377.

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