Louisiana’s 529 college START savings program continues to increase functionality as LOSFA staff make daily progress in addressing transaction backlogs, including resuming account program trading. The system is resuming operations after being offline due to a now-contained cyber incident.
START account holders continue to access the START system. Account holders should begin to see updated account information within the next week, and can now request disbursements from their accounts.
Transactions are being processed in the order in which they were received. In addition, account holders with regularly scheduled ACH debit transactions are being contacted directly by email to inform them when debits will resume and to give them an opportunity to make an optional one-time payment to address missed October deposits.
No other direct deposits have had delayed auto withdrawals; however, all accounts have experienced delays in trading and posting.
The system continues to be monitored by LOSFA, Regents, the State Treasurer, and relevant banking systems.
Additional information will be shared in the coming days regarding the timeline for restoring full operations of both START and the entire LOSFA system. Protecting the security and privacy of the state’s information systems is of the highest importance, and lessons learned will be applied in developing future resilience measures.
If users have questions about their START accounts, they should contact the START team at start@laregents.edu or 225-206-5303.
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Contact
Chris Yandle, Ph.D., APR, Associate Commissioner for Strategic Communications
chris.yandle@laregents.edu • 985-373-5845