11 best & worst 529 college savings plans of 2015: Morningstar

With college tuition rising faster than inflation, saving for college needs to start early. One of the best ways to make sure there's enough money is to invest in a 529 college savings plan. The plans are a good choice because of federal and often state tax breaks.

In over a decade since 529 plans were added to the IRS code, assets in the 85 plans studied have reached $218 billion, up 9 percent from a year earlier. Morningstar recently released its ratings of 66 of the plans. Each was assigned to the Gold, Silver, Bronze, Neutral or Negative category.

It's noteworthy that Virginia, with about $50 billion in assets under management, has nearly a quarter of the total nationwide assets in 529 plans.

Morningstar noted that 529 investors are sticking with top-ranked firms, with 70 percent of the total being managed by companies ranked highly. Morningstar judged the plans on criteria that included asset allocation, strategy and expense ratios.

We've listed the plans that merited the top two ratings and those that were deemed at the bottom. Of course, the vast majority received a rating of Neutral. In fact, last year 13 of the 529 plans were in the Gold, Silver and Negative categories, two more than this year.

(If you have been saving and are looking for the best way to spend the bucks, check out 30 Best Paying College Majors: 2015 and 30 Worst Paying College Majors: 2015. Also, look at Top 25 Best Value Colleges: 2013.

Keep reading for the Best and Worst 529 College Savings Plans of 2015:

HIGHEST RATED 529 PLANS