Yes. If the money you want to use for tuition is already in your personal checking or savings account, you can create a tuition payment in Backpack and choose Bank Transfer as your payment option.
This may apply if your 529 funds were already transferred to your personal bank account, or if you simply want to pay from an existing checking or savings account.
How to pay from a personal bank account
Log in to your Backpack account.
Select Pay Tuition.
Enter or confirm the student, school, term, and payment amount.
When asked how you want to fund the payment, choose Bank Transfer.
Add or select the personal bank account you want to use.
Review the payment details and create your tuition payment.
Backpack will guide you through adding your bank account and completing the payment.
What if the funds came from my 529 plan?
If your 529 funds have already been deposited into your personal checking or savings account, you do not need to withdraw from your 529 plan again.
Instead, use the bank account where the funds were deposited and choose Bank Transfer when creating your Backpack tuition payment.
Is this the same as sending 529 funds directly to Backpack?
No. The recommended 529 flow is to send funds directly from your 529 plan to your Backpack account using your Backpack account and routing number. Once those funds arrive, Backpack can use them to complete your pending tuition payment.
This article is only for situations where the funds are already in your personal bank account.