BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — Did you know that your newborn child already has a scholarship in their name? Well, every child born in California after July 1, 2022, automatically has a scholarship account through the California Kids Investment and Development Savings (CalKIDS) Program.

Through the CalKIDS program, up to $175 is already sitting in your child’s account. The goal is to have these funds go towards their education.

“I don’t think it is a mystery to families that student debt is a huge problem,” said Scholar Share Investment Board Executive Director, Cassandra DiBenedetto. “Every dollar that you save or set aside for your child’s education is $1 that they don’t start their life in debt with.”

More than $2 million in scholarship funds are set aside for children in Kern County for children born after July 1, 2022.

“Research shows us that children with even a modest amount of savings that are put aside for higher education are three times more likely to go to college and four times more likely to finish college,” said DiBenedetto.

DiBenedetto says every new baby born in California receives a scholarship of $100 and then there are additional actions like planning or accounts that families can take that gets that scholarship amount up to $175, available at 17, post high school.

“It’s really about the conversation,” she said. “It’s about talking about the future with your children while they’re young and having them have a post-secondary education mindset to know that there is a pathway for them to move into different fields after they get out of high school.”

First generation college graduate, Ashlee Hernanadez was one of the recipients of her son’s scholarship. She says she has instilled the importance of schooling to her two boys and the scholarship has been a blessing.

“It took a couple of generations for us to learn what college access is,” said CalKIDS Scholarship Recipient, Ashlee Hernandez. “But as the first one, I know for sure that my kids will now go to college and just knowing that I have a little bit of that investment and finances don’t have to be a big part of that decision.”

She says that it will help guide her children into their future.

“It’ll give my children the freedom to choose what college they want to go to, and then also now creating that trajectory, so that they know the step-by-step guide on how to access college education,” said Hernandez.

California Retirement Plans President Andy Barkate says that starting a saving account is essential for their student down the road of their education.

“That 175 is not going to go too terribly far, but the idea is that maybe others may contribute to that account as well,” said Barkate. “It’s going to go to again, a 529, which is a college savings account, and if others contribute to that, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, hopefully, those dollars will grow over that period of time and be a tidy sum that can actually help get you through part or maybe even all of college.”

Barkate says that with these scholarships, everyone benefits from them, especially the schools.

“The Big, Beautiful Bill that just was passed around July, had a provision in it,” said Barkate. “To actually allow a certain amount of money, to up to $1,700, to be donated to schools that pay scholarships. Those are typically private schools, parochial schools, and there’s a lot of them here in Bakersfield that will benefit from this.”

Barkate says there are more benefits.

“That’s also a tax credit,” he said. “So, actually you’re not paying for it, your taxes are paying for it. “So, it’s coming right off your tax bill. It’s a zero cost anybody and I think that’s going to help a lot of the schools around here.”

Hernandez says that accessing her son’s scholarship account was easy to find.

“All I needed to do was have their birth certificate on hand,” she said. “Through that process, there’s an identification number on their birth certificate. You plug it in, and from there, it lets you know if you qualify, and then you open your account. So, if you have a birth certificate, that’s really all you need to get started.”

To obtain your children’s scholarship account visit CalKids.org.