Funds that are left over in a 529 account after all college expenses have been paid go back to whom?

The account holder!

The government would like better to take a number of the cash as a tax, but the remainder may be chosen to be transferred to a different students name, or withdrawn at a penalty to you.

Explanation:

If assets in a very 529 are used for one thing aside from qualified education expenses, you will have to pay each federal financial gain taxes and a tenth penalty on the earnings. (An attention-grabbing aspect note is that if the beneficiary gets a full scholarship to the school, the penalty for taking the money is waived.