New York City’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget, finalized at City Hall on June 29, will open a $1,000 college savings account for every public school kindergartner across the five boroughs, making it the largest universal college savings program in the United States, according to the New York Daily News.
The $53 million investment is a tenfold expansion of NYC Kids RISE, an existing city program that currently contributes $100 per student. Every kindergartner in a public school is automatically enrolled unless their parents choose to opt out. The money goes into a 529 plan, a tax-advantaged account, and can be used for four-year college, community college, or vocational school.
“This will be the nation’s largest universal college savings program in the country, and the impact of a college savings account lasts long after students receive their diploma,” Council Speaker Julie Menin said at the news conference where she and Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a handshake deal on the budget, the Daily News reported.
Menin helped launch the college savings accounts more than a decade ago while serving as the city’s commissioner of consumer affairs, and told the New York Times earlier this month that expanding the program was her “highest budget priority,” the Daily News reported. That priority ultimately competed with housing voucher negotiations in the final stretch of budget talks.
The City Council had pushed for a $3,000 contribution specifically for children from low-income families but did not secure it. A Council spokesman confirmed to the Daily News that the final deal sets the contribution at $1,000 for all students regardless of family income.
Families can add their own contributions to the accounts, and local businesses, organizations, and institutions can also chip in through what the program calls “community scholarships.”
Debra-Ellen Glickstein, the founding executive director of NYC Kids RISE, said in a statement that New York City is the first municipality to allow every part of a child’s neighborhood, from government and public schools to philanthropy and local businesses, to invest in their futures. “The zip code where a child is born should not dictate their chances for economic mobility and opportunity,” Glickstein said.
At the news conference, Menin cited studies finding that individuals with post-secondary education earn nearly double the lifetime wages of those with only a high school diploma. “This is simply one of the most effective ways we can truly address income inequality,” she said. “So we are not simply investing in the future of our children, but also in the future of our great city.”
