Gnucash and 529 plans

[Steve Kelem]

   I have a question about recording 529-plan transactions in GnuCash.

   Not the basic movement of funds between checking and 529 account, as
   discussed 7 times in the GnuCash archives.

   There are two aspects of the 529 plan. The first is getting money into
   and out of the 529 account. Easy peesy. Already solved.

   The second is making sure that all of the expenditures for the 529 plan
   (tuition, books, room and board), are matched by a corresponding
   withdrawal from the 529 account. That's the part that I don't
   understand how to do. The payment transaction already has a source (my
   checking account) and a destination (the account representing how much
   I've paid to the university. Similarly for the 529 account
   disbursement. How do I keep track of whether I've requested enough
   disbursements?

   Ideally, when I pay for tuition, for example,
    1. The funds go out of my checking account into the university
    2. I need to make a disbursement request from my 529 plan
    3. The disbursement gets deposited into my bank account.

   (Repeat for books, room & board...)

   My usual problems are remembering to make the disbursement request, and
   not being able to check that I don't miss a disbursement request or
   make a duplicate request.

   It would be nice if there were an account that got a copy of the
   tuition payment and a corresponding debit for the disbursement request.
   If the account balance is zero, they I'm presumably up-to-date. If the
   balance is positive, I need to request a disbursement.

   Is there such a mechanism?

   Thanks for any help you can give,
   Steve