A prominent legislator is hard-pressed to shine a light on loosely regulated sate-sponsored college savings plans, calling on federal securities regulators to draft significant reforms that include improving fee disclosure.
In a July 15 letter to
Exacerbating his concerns are reports that the director of one the nations top-ranked 529 plans, the Utah Educational Savings Plan Trust, embezzled money from the plans administrative funds . The director, Dale Hatch, was fired last week after an internal audit within the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority an arm of the state Board of Regents that oversees the plan uncovered "questionable transactions."
The audit was prompted after several employees raised concerns two weeks prior to his dismissal. Mark Spencer, the authority's acting executive director, has assumed responsibility for the plan in the interim.
In February, Donaldson established a special task force to address these concerns and formulated a series of guidelines for plan sponsors to adhere to following a hearing before the Capital Markets subcommittee. While Oxley applauded Donaldsons efforts, he further urged the Commission staff to ensure that investors actually benefit from the improvements proposed by these guidelines.
He stressed the importance of revamping the fee structure to include a standardized methodology for calculating fees and performance along with a detailed description of fees and performance in both dollar amounts and percentages.
Oxley also called for the elimination of discrimination against investors who choose out-of-state plans by not providing tax exemptions for contributions and withdrawals. Another suggestion he offered was that each state provide at least one low-cost investment option, such as a broad-based index fund.
