Wouldn’t you already have been taxed on the money you are putting in those accounts? Or was it like a 401K and they took it from your paycheck?
It’s like a Roth IRA, in that you put in after-tax money and it grows tax free. But for the gains to be non-taxable the distributions have to be spent on college. Actually you can even spend them on college for yourself. But anything else you pay tax, and I believe penalties as well.