Paying through 529 plan

AVA55
Sun, 21 Nov 2010 18:29:49 +0000

Fifty-plus – In our experience, one normally makes a request to the 529 account manager to make a distribution directly to the school for the account of the student, noting whatever identifiers the school requires (usually student ID number).

The wrinkle with UVa is that any hard-copy check issued to pay a student account must be accompanied by a “Remittance Advice” form. This includes 529 checks. One gets this form through Quick Pay or SIS.

Because of this wrinkle, we have been having the 529 fund send us the check, then we have mailed it to UVa with the “Remittance Advice.” We do this, instead of sending the “Remittance Advice” directly to the 529 on advise of our financial advisor who feared the 529 might have a problem matching the form with the check. Not sure if this is necessary; I’d speak with your fund on this. NOTE: according to Student Financial Services, the “Remittance Advice” form and the official spring tuition bill will appear on Quick Pay on December 11. Right now, those amounts appear on SIS just as future expenses (or something like that).