NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - I always see 529 college savings accounts written up as being an excellent way to save for children's college education. If these plans are so great, why is it that when I look at the tables of investment performance, all the numbers are negative? Am I missing something?

-- Julie Newhouse, Ithaca, New York

I feel your pain. I too have been shoveling money into a 529 plan in the hopes that my 10-year-old son will have enough moolah to attend the college of his choice after he graduates from high school (assuming he graduates from high school). And I too have seen the balance in my 529 plan decline. In fact, my current balance is below my original investment.

But, to paraphrase Bill Shakespeare, the fault is not in our 529 plans, but in our markets, specifically the fact that from its high in early 2000, the stock market is down a good 40 percent or so.

Which means that if you have been investing a good portion of your 529 stash in stock portfolios -- which is probably the case if your children have 10 or more years to go until they reach the hallowed halls of academe -- then you could easily be sitting on some losses in your account. Or at the very least, your account balance may be quite a bit lower than it was before the market's meltdown almost three years ago.

Question is, what do you do from here? The first thing you have to do is figure whether the investment options you've chosen still make sense for you. Perhaps you opened your account back when the bull market was in full swing and you were comfortable putting most or even all of your money in stocks.

Maybe you want to take a less aggressive stance now, allocating less money to stocks and more bonds or other investment options with less volatility. Such a move may make perfect sense if your child is getting close to college age.

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If, on the other hand, your child still has many years to go before leaving high school, then investing too conservatively could limit the growth potential of your account. In that case, it's possible that, despite recent losses, you may want to stick to your current investing strategy.

If you do feel you want to make a change, you'll have to check with your plan to see what options are available. Many plans offer less volatile investments such as bond funds and money-market funds or even a guaranteed option that offers a guarantee of principal and a fixed rate of return.

Keep in mind though, that not all plans allow you to transfer money in existing accounts from one investment to another. If that's the case for your plan, you still have the option of opening a new account and making your new contributions to whatever investment you choose.

If you don't find investments you like in your state's plan, you can consider rolling over your money to another state's plan. But you want to proceed carefully here.

In some states, rollovers to another state's 529 are considered taxable distributions. You would still have the option of putting new money into a different state's plan. But by doing so you might lose some of the tax benefits available in your home state's plan, such as deducting your contribution on your state taxes.

So before you make any such moves, you definitely want to check the rules of your state's plan, as well as the rules of any state plan you're considering moving money to. You'll find a good overview of the rules on all 529 plans, as well as links to the state plans themselves, at Savingforcollege.com.

Finally, you should also consider the possibility that, given the way the market's been behaving the past few years, the only way you're going to have enough money for your budding scholar's college education is by saving more money.

To get an idea of how big a college tuition fund you're likely to have given your current account balance and savings rate, I suggest you check out our College Savings Planner. If our projections tell you you're likely to fall far short of the amount you'll need, then you may want to increase your savings -- or start putting out feelers for financial aid.

Walter Updegrave is a senior editor at MONEY Magazine and is the author of "Investing for the Financially Challenged." He can be seen regularly Monday mornings at 7:40 am on CNNfn.