Oregon Public Broadcasting

After considering six different investment companies, the Oregon College Savings Board has decided that TIAA-CREF will manage the state’s 529 plans.

State Treasurer, Ben Westlund, says the company showed it had the track-record and the passion to do the job.

Ben Westlund: “One of the specific proposals was to have an on-site, in-state, individual, paid for by them, that would do outreach, tour the state -- to help advance the ethic of saving for college.”

About 53,000 Oregonians have college savings plans, totaling about $400 million.

Oppenheimer invests the funds now. Its contract expires at the end of the year, but it did not submit a bid to continue.

The state is suing Oppenheimer to recover about $36 million, which the state says were lost when the company put money in a risky fund but called it conservative.