One year after California launched a program creating college savings accounts to address educational inequity, only 6% of the accounts have been claimed. Now state officials are increasing efforts to get students and families to sign up.
A state-backed program to help alleviate the stress of college expenses for parents, CalKIDS automatically enrolls eligible students — those from lower-income backgrounds and newborns born after July 1, 2022 — for a higher education investment plan.
This means the state deposits $175 dollars or more into a savings account which accrues money over time. However, parents have to register an account to access the funds, which can also be used for a variety of post-secondary education including college, trade schools and career training.
“CalKIDS is the antidote against poverty and equity,” advocated California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, who helps oversee the program.
The program began with a seed amount of $2 billion from the state with aims to address the inequity in access to higher education. The efforts are under the ScholarShare Investment Board, of which Ma is chair.
Sacramento City School Board President Chinua Rhodes and Calif. State Treasurer Fiona Ma tour Rosa Park K-8 School in Sacramento, Calif. on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023.Andrew Nixon / CapRadio
Of the nearly 400,00 eligible newborns, only 4% have registered accounts on the CalKIDS website. And barely 6% of those from lower-income backgrounds have claimed their accounts.
In Sacramento County, just 5% of eligible families have registered, and $72 million in dedicated funds are unused.
This past Wednesday, Rosa Parks K-8 School in South Sacramento was the first stop in Ma’s renewed commitment to statewide outreach. She encouraged families to claim the $1.8 billion that has been left untouched.
“We're here at this school because there are 649 students that are eligible for $500 to $1,500 in their account, and only 24 have registered,” she said. You just have to register and money starts building up for 18 years, Ma added.
To ensure that parents and kids are informed about the program, Rosa Parks School partnered with Ma, Chief Deputy Superintendent at the California Department of Education Mary Nicely, California Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen, along with Sacramento City Unified School Board members and others.
At the CalKIDS event, Diploma Dog — the CalKIDS mascot — got second-graders excited about college. Sitting among them was 7-year-old Devan Cruz, who has dreams of becoming an astronomer.
“I want to discover different planets and what they have in common,” he said.
His dad Adan Cruz is taking every step to make Devan’s dreams a reality, including registering for Devan’s CalKIDS account at the event.
“I want him to get all the education possible,” he said. “So any opportunity that there is to get him involved in different programs, I'd like to take on.”
Nicely, at the California Department of Education, said she will be weaving the program into all of her family engagement work.
“I'm just excited you have dreams. And I'm excited that you want to follow those dreams,” Nicely said to the second-graders at Rosa Parks School. “And we're here to tell you CalKIDS is going to help you follow those dreams."
Parents interested in registering to claim their child’s account can go to calkids.org.
Srishti Prabha is an education reporter and Report For America corps member in collaboration with CapRadio and The Sacramento Observer. Their focus is K-12 education in Sacramento’s Black communities.
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today
