Dear community member,
Saving for college makes a difference for more than our bank accounts. In fact, research shows that children with a college savings account between $1 and $500 are three times more likely to enroll in college – and nearly four times as likely to graduate.
Santa Cruz County families are fortunate to have two incredible college savings programs available to them that provide free funds to qualifying youth: Semillitas, a project of Santa Cruz Community Ventures, and the statewide CalKIDS program. Deposits can total up to $2000 for qualifying students between the two programs.
These are completely free funds that may be used toward college or career training, with absolutely no strings attached. The main issue is that families aren’t aware they have these accounts, and in some cases, have healthy skepticism when families receive information about them.
For example, there are 25,848 youth eligible for CalKIDS in Santa Cruz County as of this past June. But just 1,625 have claimed their accounts. That’s leaving the vast majority of more than $12 million in funds set aside for our community’s children sitting on the table.
Now, those funds don’t go anywhere. But when families claim their accounts, they get additional funds added automatically. For all these reasons, we’re thrilled to be partnering with Semillitas and CalKIDS to host a hands-on workshop later this month.
This session will provide valuable information on how you can access and add to these funds to support your child’s future education. Note that this workshop is hosted in Spanish, first, with live interpretation available to English and Mixteco. Onsite child care is available at no cost. Workshop details:
- Date: September 25th, 2024
- Time: 5:30 – 7 p.m.
- Location: 229 Green Valley Rd, Freedom, CA 95019
- Pre-registration: https://sccoe.link/collegesavings
Families are asked to bring an email address and each child’s birth certificate and their student school ID, known as the SSID (found on report cards and student portals for TK-12 students) as available. But if you don’t have access to any of those items, don’t worry as staff will be available to help you look them up.
Please share this information and the workshop flyer in your circles, especially to Spanish-speaking families. We hope to see you there!
Yours in education and equity,
Dr. Faris Sabbah
County Superintendent of Schools