She’s Going Into 6th Grade and Already Saving for College

The fifth graders’ accounts were opened automatically with $100 from the Gray Foundation, started by Jon Gray, the president and chief operating officer of the private equity giant Blackstone, and his wife, Mindy Gray. Lawton was surprised by how easy the process was. “First name, last name,” she said. “It grows as she grows.”

The program was expanded in the 2021-22 school year to cover nearly every kindergartner in a public school in the city, including charter schools — more than 75,000 children in all. (The money in their accounts came from the city, $100 for each kindergartner; NYC Kids RISE put it into each child’s account. The money is invested in the New York 529 Direct Plan, named for the section of the Internal Revenue Code that spells out the tax advantages of college savings accounts.)

As Caileigh has learned, the account setup smooths the way for community groups and businesses to channel money to students. This means that “the message of expectation, the message of what’s possible, is reinforced from different directions,” said Debra-Ellen Glickstein, the executive director of NYC Kids RISE.

Some 19 “community scholarships” have been directed into children’s accounts from businesses in Queens, as well as religious organizations and civic groups. Caileigh has received seven of them, including $126.26 from one and $48.89 from another.

And, like every child in the program in her school district, she received $18.86 from the Concert for College 2019, a standing-room-only gospel performance during Black History Month that directed the money from an auditorium of $20-a-seat attendees into the children’s college accounts.

“There was a lot of work to get to that amount of money,” Caileigh said, and Lawton said she had encouraged friends to send graduation gifts to Caileigh’s account. “Everyone wants to give money,” Lawton said, “ but I’m, like, give money to the college account because college is going to be expensive.”

Lawton said the account amounted to “a promise for the future.”

“It gives me reassurance,” she said. “The community is saying we want you to go to school. It’s money you can use for college or for a trade school or for nursing school.”