Kansas Re-Hires American Century to Run 529

Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins announced Thursday that after reviewing a number of proposals from investment management firms, the state has re-hired American Century Investments to run its 529 college savings plan, Learning Quest. American Century has been running the plan since it was launched six years ago.   “It was a long and difficult process, but after all the proposals were reviewed on their own merits and evaluated against each other, it was determined that American Century would continue to best meet the needs of Learning Quest's more than 93,000 account owners and combined assets of nearly $1.5 billion,” Jenkins said.   American Century is expanding the investment options and lowering fees, with the program management fee dropping from 39 basis points to 20 basis points. New offerings are from The Hartford Mutual Funds, OppenheimerFunds, Principal Financial Group and Riversource Investments.