America's favorite college saving vehicles, 529 plans, are taking heat these days from congressmen, regulators — even experts in retirement investing.

These very popular, state-sponsored plans sometimes cost too much to operate, the critics say, and some of them don't make enough on their investments.

It is certain that a few 529s have been tainted by cronyism, and that few do much to explain themselves and their performance to their investors.

How does Georgia's plan stack up? The short answer is, pretty good but not the best. On the most worrisome issue — cronyism and the potential for fraud — Georgia's plan has no hint of misdeeds.

The Georgia Higher Education Savings Plan chose TIAA-CREF as its investment manager. TIAA-CREF is a long-established and respected firm, and it has kept its nose clean even as a number of big-name mutual fund families have been soiled by the nine-month-and-growing scandal.

The plan certainly has drawn a lot of support. By the end of May, 42,336 investors had put $170.1 million into the Georgia 529 plan.

Among them is Kevin Self, a thirtysomething Georgia Tech graduate who puts money from each paycheck into a 529 account for his 3-year-old daughter, Haley. Self and wife Terry plan to open a second account soon for their 6-month-old daughter, Kylie.

"I was able to get a quality education, and I want to be sure my girls have the same opportunity," Self said. "I feel that if I can start putting some money in now, that makes it manageable."

Self, a Georgia Power employee who helps commercial clients analyze and manage their power needs, took the same methodical approach to college saving. He spotted the Georgia plan on a Web site, www.savingforcollege.com. After searching the Internet for more information, he narrowed his focus to the Georgia plan.

The Selfs have taken another step toward building college savings. They encourage family members and friends to participate. "If you ever want to give a gift," he tells them, "just write a check and send it on in."

It's not just Georgia. Every state sponsors one or more 529s. At the end of September 2003, the 70-odd plans had assets of $39.19 billion in 5.7 million accounts.

They are popular because parents can defer taxes on earnings from their investments and can avoid taxes entirely if they use the money for education-related expenses.

Georgians who contribute to the state's plan also may be able to deduct up to $2,000 from their taxable income on their state income tax returns.

Still, the complaints are worth thinking about. "I think a lot of them are legitimate," said Joseph F. Hurley, author of a book on 529 plans and founder of savingforcollege.com. "There have been vast improvements over the years in disclosure and the structure and administration of the programs. Still, industrywide, there's room for improvement."

Here are details on the complaints, and on how Georgia's plan stacks up.

• High costs. Investors in the Georgia plan pay an annual management fee of 0.85 percent. "In the grand scheme of things, that is not considered expensive," said Dan McNeela, a senior analyst at Morningstar and a 529 expert. "But others that use similar plans from TIAA-CREF have much lower expenses, as far down as 0.65 percent."

It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it would hurt if you put a lot of money in when your kids are still young.

Say you invest $10,000 for your 3-year-old and leave it until the child is 18. If your money grows by 5 percent a year, you will end up with $18,291 in college money. But if your brother invested in the Michigan plan, which charges 0.65 percent, he would end up with $561 more.

If you put in the Georgia maximum, $235,000, and leave it for 18 years, you would have $17,930 less than your brother in Michigan.

Chuck Penuel, director of the Georgia 529 plan, said the state got the best deal it could at the time. He noted that Georgia was one of the last states to adopt a plan, and he said TIAA-CREF and others have raised management fees as they learned more about the costs of running 529 plans. "They came in with best price of any bidder, and we did some negotiating and got them down to a lower price," he said.

Georgia's plan is designed for do-it-yourselfers. Other states offer investments that are sold through stockbrokers and other dealers, who tack on a sales charge of up to 5.75 percent and often have operating expenses that are much higher than economy-minded, direct-investment plans.

You can hunt down total costs and compare them with other state plans on Hurley's Web site.

• Slack performance. Comparison shopping is very difficult, but recent records of most plans are reported on Hurley's Web site. Go to www.savingforcollege.com/529_plans and click on Investment Results.

For more recent but less extensive reports on Georgia's investment options, go to www.gacollegesavings.com and click on Investment Performance.

"We feel our funds have done well," said Georgia's Penuel. "We've tried to draw a good balance, [using a] relatively conservative, stable investment manager and, of course, trying to maximize returns."

Hurley believes Georgia has done fairly well, judging from an unpublished comparison his firm performed late last year. "As I scan the other plans, Georgia looks very competitive," he said.

• Poor disclosure. What you cannot find is comparisons to benchmarks, like major market indexes or commentary on the reasons for your plan's performance.

"That's a crucial point," said McNeela. "Along with the raw performance numbers, there should be written commentary, in plain English, that explains how the plans have performed and gives a brief explanation why they are doing better or worse [than benchmarks]."

Most states, including Georgia, do not provide that information.

"I agree it should be easy," said Penuel. "That's probably something we should take a look at."

None of this means that families stay away. "With all the negativity, there are still some very attractive plans out there," said McNeela. "Even for Georgia investors, while I think fees should be lower, the state tax deduction is available elsewhere."

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