You own the 529 plan. A gift to the 529 plan is a gift to you, NOT your son. Owners can always withdraw funds from a plan.

I was thinking the same thing to, but everything I read about them talks about the gift tax benefit of family members being able to contribute without gift tax concerns (within the limits) for the beneficiaries.

At the same time, I can change beneficiaries, so I could change it from my son to myself or my wife after the gift was made.

I wish the contribution limits were higher on educational savings accounts. I'd rather have much better control over the account and pick my investments and not have to worry about beneficiaries vs owner. I consider myself fairly well versed (I'm comfortable with stocks, bonds, options, have an IRA/401k and taxable accounts) in personal finance but 529's confuse me a great deal. I can't imagine how someone who isn't comfortable with investing would find a 529 easy to understand.