Who should sign up and create the Backpack account?

The Owner of the 529 College Savings Plan should create the Backpack account whenever possible.

Backpack is designed to link directly to a 529 plan by adding your Backpack bank details (account & routing number) to allow you to make electronic withdrawals to your Backpack account. Your Backpack account operates just like any other personal checking bank account (yes, your account number is unique to your account). The Backpack bank account is held in the name of the person who creates the Backpack account.

It's therefore best if the 529 plan owner - usually a parent, guardian, or grandparent - signups and creates the Backpack account using their own personal information.

The following 529 Plans have strict requirements for which personal bank accounts can be added to a 529 Plan for withdrawal purposes. These include:

The 529 account holder must match the bank account name being added if you have one of the above plans

For most 529 plans, others can create the Backpack account if needed but the student in Backpack must match the 529 plan beneficiary to avoid issues.