Chattanooga Future Fund to give thousands of Hamilton County students college savings accounts
Courtesy: Chattanooga 2.0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- According to the Educational Data Initiative, post-secondary tuition costs have skyrocketed over 180% percent over the past 20 years.
This as over 70 percent of jobs in the Chattanooga area are projected to require some sort of post-high school education in the years to come.
The Chattanooga Future Fund is looking to address this as less than 60 percent of all Hamilton County School go to and finish post-secondary education.
It was announced Thursday, and will give each student in a Hamilton County elementary or middle school $150 to open a college and career savings account.
It is a result of a partnership led by Chattanooga 2.0, city and county government, and other private partners.
Chattanooga 2.0 executive director Dr. Keri Randolph said, “Other communities have used these kinds of college and career savings accounts for years. We know that even having a few hundred dollars at the time of graduation increases the chance of postsecondary education by five fold.”
This will be a 529 tax savings account, designed to allow parents and other benefactors to help raise money for a student’s future.
This will work in conjunction with the Tennessee Investments Preparing Scholars program, in which the state provides a four to one matching contribution for a TN Stars 529 college savings account.
Hamilton County superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson said, “That’s the whole intent. Early investments that go through interest and grow into something substantial, but again, I think this speaks to the belief that we have in our kids.”
One example showed what could happen to a kindergartener’s account if there was consistent investment into that account.
Dr. Randolph explained, “A kindergarten student, she has claimed her $150, her parents/guardian goes on and does that right now… It’s not hard to imagine that when Avery goes on to be a meteorologist, she’ll have $10,000 or more in that account.”
The $7.5 million investment over the next five years leaders hope turn into over a billion in new earnings.
Dr. Randolph said, “$150 for every student now, leading to one billion dollars in new earnings that lift our community in the years ahead? I’m a teacher in my heart, not a businessperson, but that sounds like a really terrific ROI to me.”
Parents can go ahead and sign up now for their students to access these accounts.
The link to do so is here.
