HARRISBURG- Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced that Treasury will award an additional $50 to families who claim their Keystone Scholars accounts and open a PA 529 College and Career Savings Program (PA 529) account during the month of November.
“As the holiday season gets closer, there is no better gift to support your child’s educational future than to claim their Keystone Scholars scholarship,” Treasurer Garrity said. “Opening a PA 529 account is also an extremely wise financial decision to save money for future educational expenses. I’m confident that this promotion will inspire hardworking Pennsylvania families to take advantage of both programs to get the maximum benefit.”
Keystone Scholars provides $100 scholarship accounts for every child born on or after January 1, 2019, while PA 529 accounts help families save for future college and career education expenses. Parents who claim their child’s Keystone Scholars account and open and link it to a companion PA 529 account will receive an additional $50 deposit into their child’s PA 529 account. Taking these actions in November will result in a total of $150 for future education.
Money in Keystone Scholars accounts grows through Treasury investment and can be used to cover post-high school education expenses once a child turns 18 until their 29th birthday. The program uses no taxpayer dollars.
Treasury has opened more than 834,000 Keystone Scholars accounts with over $83 million in assets. More than 11 percent of families have claimed their accounts, and more than 30 percent of these families have opened a companion PA 529 account. Families with linked PA 529 accounts have saved more than $170 million for their children’s future education.
Research shows that children with a modest amount of savings are three times more likely to pursue higher education after high school and four times more likely to graduate. Programs like Keystone Scholars can provide improved social-emotional development for children, reduce maternal depression and increase parental educational expectations.
Keystone Scholars is the first legislated, statewide, automatic, at-birth program of its kind in the country. Families receive information by mail from Treasury about five months after their child’s birth with instructions on how to claim their account.
PA 529 accounts are designed to help Pennsylvania families steadily and strategically save for a wide variety of qualifying educational expenses, including those for technical schools, colleges and universities, K-12 education, and certain apprenticeships and credential programs. There are two PA 529 plans to choose from, the PA 529 Guaranteed Savings Plan and the PA 529 Investment Plan.
There are currently more than 323,000 PA 529 accounts. Families have more than $9 billion saved for future education expenses.
To claim your child’s Keystone Scholars account, visit pa529.com/keystone.
To learn more about saving with PA 529, visit pa529.com or call 800-440-4000.
