I will be reaching 59 1/2 years old by the end of the year and need to tap into one of my 401K funds for some college money. How does that process start?

Contact the plan administartor. Some plans make it quite easy - if your administrator is Fidelity, for example, you can go on-line and request withdrawals any time you like. Otherwise call customer service - their mnumber ought to be on your quarterly statements.