Several times in the last year (or longer) I have written about Ohio’s CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan and their gift of free money. It seems like they are always giving away free money. If you missed the last opportunity, now you have the chance for $50 in free money again.

Ten years from now, I see one of two things happening… either Ohio’s CollegeAdvantage 529 Plan is going to rule the 529 Plan World (at least for those states that don’t give tax breaks) or it’s going to need some rescuing from giving away all this free money. I’m betting on the former. Why? Well people tend to keep their 529 plans for a long, long time. They also tend to put a lot of money in them (as college is expensive). The combination leads to some significant gains for the financial institution. However, it is worth noting that CollegeAdvantage has some of the best low-expense Vanguard funds to choose from. In fact, before CollegeAdvantage had this program, I had written about my own adventures in choosing a 529 plan, I realized that CollegeAdvantage was the best option for me.

How to Sign up for CollegeAdvantage

• Go to Ohio’s CollegeAdvantage and open an account before June 30, 2010.
• When asked for a referral code use 2481398 to receive the bonus.
• Deposit $25 or more to qualify for the bonus
• You should receive your $50 $25 bonus in 7-10 business days. Updated to reflect that it is a $25 bonus.

If you want, you can then use your account to refer a spouse and pick up even more free money.

Some people may avoid this because they have no children now – and no plans to have children. My wife and I have no children. I’m taking advantage (pun intended) of the program for either a future child, my niece or nephew… or possibly even myself or my wife when we retire.