“The program won’t solve K-12 public education’s deeper problems…but it can help cultivate responsibility, industry, and aspiration among children who might never imagine higher education as a real possibility.”
In a commentary published by the New York Daily News, John Ketcham and Jennifer Weber, fellows at the Manhattan Institute, argue that expanding NYC Kids RISE college savings accounts will broaden opportunity by helping students invest in future education and career pathways. Seeded in 2017 by a $10 million gift from the Gray Foundation, the pilot program was expanded in 2021, creating $100 accounts for every kindergarten student citywide. The accounts now hold more than $85 million. With the latest city budget funding, new accounts will receive $1,000 beginning this fall. The authors view the program as a better use of education dollars than larger school operating budgets and call for extending it to private and religious school students.
