Your College Cash

Section 529 plans offer tax-free growth and are the clear choice for tuition-wary parents

The hardest part about saving for college ought to be the saving part, not choosing where to stash the savings. Stock-index funds? Zero-coupon bonds? Target maturity mutual funds? Custodial accounts? Prepaid tuition plans? Education IRAs? Each has advantages for folks staring at potential six-figure tuition bills down the road. It all amounts to a terrifying multiple-choice test that leads even straight-A parents to resort to guesswork or to cutting class altogether.

Take heart. This grind of a course just got a lot easier. The $1.35 trillion tax cut President Bush signed last week may be loaded with numbing nuances on a...

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