State-Sponsored 529 Plans

State-sponsored 529 college savings programs shoulder many responsibilities related to the successful ongoing execution of their program, such as monitoring operational processes, and enhancing participants’ online experience in order to attract new accounts and increase contributions to existing ones. These obligations may be overwhelming and daunting, which is why they turn to firms like Ultimus for their program’s administration. Our focus is to improve operational efficiency and enhance the overall experience for both the state and 529 plan participants, all at a competitive price.

The Ultimus Difference

In addition to being a service provider, we are your partner. We are close to the Registered Investment Adviser community and deeply understand how to successfully distribute and market retail investment products. We are much more than just an administrator.

Ultimus offers you and your participants comprehensive and engaged personal services. We are strong believers in innovative technology, which can improve your interactivity with your participants and connect you with a new generation of savers.

529 Plan Services

Increasing plan participation is a major 529 plan policy objective, putting a large focus on the enrollment and service experience, as well as marketing and distribution to increase awareness and plan reach. Accordingly, Ultimus in collaboration with carefully selected industry partners, offers both marketing leadership, investment management, program management services, and supplemental support for 529 plans, and can act as the named distributor to support sales efforts and marketing compliance.

Specifically, through our shared services model, Ultimus can provide your plan many valuable services including:

Governance and fiduciary solutions
Participant servicing and recordkeeping
Back and middle office function support
Regulatory compliance and oversight to meet industry standards and best practices
Full agency-level range of marketing support in a lead or supplemental capacity
Distribution support
Providing non-proprietary investment line-ups as the named adviser or with third party investment advisers
Custody and trading services
Dedicated client service for advisers and investors

Support to Increase Plan Participation

The goal of a 529 college savings plan is to prepare families to send their children to college. But, that is an uphill task considering the majority of Americans don’t know what a 529 college savings plan is. For some states, taking their plan national is also an objective, but that requires significant investment in marketing and distribution. Also, since many workers are concerned about funding college, employers are looking to make 529 college savings plans more accessible to their employees.

No matter what the specific growth objectives are of your plan, Ultimus and our partners have the experience to help. We have a deep lineup of marketing personnel, each with specialized knowledge that benefits our clients and the markets they serve. Specific services that we can provide to supplement and upgrade your marketing include:

Market research and strategy development
Brand awareness advertising
Responsive and impactful website development
Search engine optimization and search engine marketing to promote your plan’s site
Materials to support the education and sales process
Video, podcasts, infographics, and collateral

Enrollment and Ongoing Customer Service

Customer experience is critical to retaining and increasing plan participation. Ultimus offers electronic and paper enrollment materials to make it simple for parents and grandparents to enroll in your program. If a potential enrollee abandons the enrollment process, we can supplement your marketing with re-targeting advertisements to reach those people. If enrollees need a human touch, Ultimus has call center personnel ready via chat or phone to help them complete the enrollment process.

Ultimus’ scalable servicing model includes dedicated service teams that are trained to handle the special needs of each client, as well as cross trained to handle overflow workloads. Our call center personnel are regularly evaluated to ensure they are meeting or exceeding participants’ needs through methods like live call review, call quality metrics, and audits.

Website, Mobile, and Robo-Adviser

Ultimus’ 529 participant web portal is mobile friendly, easy to navigate, and includes transactional and video capability.

Conversion

For state sponsored 529 programs moving plan administration over to Ultimus, we have established a highly effective implementation process and built an experienced transition team to move the program seamlessly and swiftly.

Industry Participation

The state-sponsored 529 community has welcomed Ultimus’ services for these savings plans. We participate in the College Savings Plans Network (CSPN) and the College Savings Foundation (CSF), which, among others, allow for strategic thinking across the community, and are integral to the advocacy of 529 and ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) plans, as well as other state-sponsored initiatives.

Contact us to learn more.

Learn more about the investment services Ultimus provides:

Fund Accounting
Transfer Agent and Shareholder Servicing
Distribution
Printing