The Lansing School District and the city are joining a new partnership to help its youngest students save for college.
Since 2015, the city, the district and Michigan State University Federal Credit Union have provided every Lansing kindergartener with their own college savings account.
Now, participating Kroger rewards card members can elect to have one percent of their quarterly grocery spending deposited in those accounts.
Lansing Mayor Andy Schor says the program is one way to build community wealth.
“I’ve heard stories of kids coming to school with $5 or $10 in an envelope and saying, this is for my college savings account; you’ve got a mom or kid who had a few extra bucks,” Schor says. “It builds wealth but it also builds financial sense for those students to understand that they have a savings account…now they’ll be able to use it.”
The initiative is supported by a $10,000 grant from the nonprofit U.S. Conference of Mayors.