Opinion: Saving for college is part of my public school story

Like so many of my fellow parents in the city, I’m starting to organize for back-to-school. As I begin helping my daughter prepare for 7th grade, I marvel how she’s become such a chatterbox, talking about the rest of middle school, and high school, and how one day she might be an entrepreneur or a graphic designer. I love to listen to Zhyla talk about her future. And I have some calm in my heart because NYC Kids RISE has helped me build resources and support for Zhyla to achieve these dreams.

When Zhyla was in second grade, she received an NYC Scholarship Account via NYC Kids RISE, a nonprofit that works with the City of New York and NYC Public Schools, communities, and private donors to provide and fund NYC Scholarship Accounts. I remember the excitement a couple of years ago when Mayor Adams celebrated the program expanding from just our school district to the whole city. Every single kindergartner in a district school and in most charter schools now receive an account – in the biggest school system in the country. Today, Zhyla is one of 200,000 kids citywide who collectively have more than $30 million in their NYC Scholarship Accounts. 

This was amazing when I first heard about the program five years ago through the Parent Coordinator at PS 234, and still amazes me today. When I first activated and viewed the account, NYC Kids RISE had already deposited $100. The magic is that Zhyla’s account has since been funded in so many other ways. Since then, like many other parents I have completed the program’s other building blocks, opening a college and career savings account that I personally own, and connecting it to Zhyla’s NYC Scholarship Account. Then I started making my own deposits. 

With each of these steps, NYC Kids RISE put another $25 in and matched my first $100 saved. Soon after, I began working with my neighbors on an idea to raise additional funds for Zhyla and other children who live in Astoria Houses. We put together a community-driven campaign to raise $1,000 for each of the 184 children in Astoria Houses with an NYC Scholarship Account at the time. So Zhyla’s account now has that money, too, in addition to other Community Scholarships that have come from the businesses, organizations, and community members all around her.

All of this, plus the earnings from the account, has brought us to more than $3,000 saved. Now, this may end up only a small part of the total cost of college. Regardless, as Zhyla’s dreams grow and change, the funds will support her. They can be used not just for tuition but for career training programs, books, fees, all the hidden costs so many families deal with–giving her options, and taking some pressure off.  

There is an incredible intangible benefit, too. For many families in my community, college can feel very abstract. It may feel like it’s just wishful thinking to plan for it, to believe your kids could attend school; but the Save for College program changes that. It certainly amplified the future-focused attitude in my house: I now have also opened 529 college savings accounts for my other two children, and a portion of my paycheck is automatically deducted to fund them.

This has helped to create a whole feeling of excitement and positive expectations around higher education from the time that students are in their earliest years of school. As I have watched my daughter grow, I know it’s made a difference in how she thinks about the rest of her life, and what is possible. 

I have felt this in our home but it is true beyond us too: research shows that even a small amount of savings, anywhere between $1 and $500, makes it more likely students will attend and graduate from college.

Every January, about 65,000 more kindergartners get their NYC Scholarship Accounts, and start this journey towards their future. I am proud to be a part of a city and an effort that is  communicating to these children–our children–and to their families that we believe in them. 

I can’t wait to see what our neighborhoods  will be like when our littlest New Yorkers are chatterboxing to their families in a few years about all their big dreams and then pursuing them as young adults–fueled by the confidence and support that comes with the NYC Scholarship Accounts and community support they receive today.