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California launches nation’s largest college savings program for millions of students and all newborns

All families of low-income public school students can access college savings accounts
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Today, all families of low-income public school students – 3.4 million across the state – can now access college savings accounts created in their children's names, with seed investments of between $500 and $1,500.

The CalKIDS program invests $1.9 billion into accounts for low-income school-age children in grades one through 12 and for newborn children born on or after July, 1, 2022.

"California is telling our students that we believe they’re college material – not only do we believe it, but we’ll also invest in them directly,” said Governor Newsom in a press release.

Assembly-member, Adrin Nazarian, said in a press release that the goal of this program "was to bridge the gap between wealth inequality and the high cost of education." He continued, "CalKIDS will expand access to college through savings by providing each child born in the state of California a seed deposit in a ScholarShare 529 college savings account."

Nazarian also said, "Additional deposits will be made for low-income first graders across the state, with supplemental deposits for foster and homeless youth."

To find out who is eligible for a CalKIDS account, visit calkids.org.