BISYS is adding a 529 college saving component to its Retirement Central application.

The College Central application was developed by 529 Solutions of North Carolina. The modular system, which can be customized and maintained by anyone with a working knowledge of Microsoft Word, contains educational content, planning tools such as calculators and other information, including the largest scholarship database in the country.

"We assemble all of those resources and give the institution the capacity to turn them on and off and modify them as it chooses to," said Bob Shipley, president of 529 Solutions.

Chris Guarino, president of Retirement Services at BISYS, said that adding a college saving tools to Retirement Central "was a natural extension for us." Partnering with 529 Solutions made sense because,Bisys' 529 group "was specializing in consumer content" for the college saving market. The state-issued 529 plans are subject to an array of different rules and regulations, which can confuse college savers trying to compare them. Programs like College Central provide the tools to make comparisons. Guarino expects offering this capacity to differentiate BISYS from competitors.

Tax changes exempting 529 withdrawals in 2001 gave the 529 market a boost. While they are due to sunset in 2010, there is strong support for maintaining the exemption after that date. Guarino is "cautiously optimistic" that the payroll oriented 529 plan market will take shape in the coming 12 to 18 months. 

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