Does it make sense to open up a 529 Savings Plan?

Anybody else care to shed some light into this matter?

One of the unfortunate things about working in personal finance is that the people who are most qualified to answer questions like this are prohibited from doing it in a public setting because it would be a different answer for each reader, depending on their circumstances.

I will say this though:
1. in some situations it is possible to prefund up to 5 years of 529 contributions at once (70k)
2. Consult with your financial specialist about how a 529 would affect your financial aid, loans and/or need based grants.

There are some situations in which money in a 529 does not count against the beneficiary as much as if the money was in a standard account type.
On the other hand, there are some situations in which throwing money into a 529 (or doing a rollover) would be looked at as additional income or cash flow that, while you wouldn't have to pay extra taxes, might hurt your chances of qualifying for aid.

Also, fees inside of a 529 are important to consider... And the there are the investment options or leaving it as cash.

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