The $$ in the account gets high level protection from law suit; The $$ there is NOT included in your family asset when calculate "family contribution factor" for need based college aids; Most of funds are "institutional shares" which is much better price than the same fund you buy it from brokerage firms as individual investor.
If you prefer, you may be able to do "in service rollover" to move out all/partial of $$ to IRA without changing your job and there is no tax impacts.Check with your HR.
