RD71 - Virginia529 Oversight Report – 2024


Executive Summary:

Biennial oversight report of Virginia529, now known as the Commonwealth Savers Plan.

Key findings include:

• Total defined benefit 529 liabilities have declined since the Legacy Prepaid529 program closed.

• Defined Benefit 529 fund holds approximately $3 billion in assets and has underperformed benchmarks.

• DB529 fund has a funded status of 183 percent and an actuarial reserve of $1.1 billion as of December 31, 2023.

• Virginia529 board allocated $500 million in DB529 surplus funds to an Access Fund.

• Majority of Invest529 options overperformed investment benchmarks for most periods.

• CollegeAmerica participation and assets continue to grow.

• CollegeAmerica investment options showed mixed to poor performance.

• Virginia529 completed implementation of RetirePath Virginia in 2023, which is a state-sponsored automatic-enrollment retirement savings program for certain private-sector employees in Virginia.