California’s CalKids scholarship program is bringing opportunity to millions of children. There are currently more than 5 million children enrolled in the program and $2 billion invested for college scholarships and career training for newborns and eligible students.
Humphrey Manacsa, outreach data specialist for the State Treasurer’s Office, said the California Kids Investment and Development Savings Program (CalKids) is the gateway into thinking about and starting your college or career training savings journey.
“The cool thing about our scholarship is that these scholarships have automatically already been created for all of these newborns and these students, so millions of newborns and students all across the state of California already have the opportunity to claim one of these scholarships today, because it’s already been created in their name for them,” said Manacsa.
The state of California has sent out a letter in the mail to those who are eligible. You can also check to see if a child has a scholarship by going online to the website, calkids.org. On the homepage, you can click on a bright blue button to confirm eligibility.
The website will tell you if you already have the CalKids scholarship, and will provide instructions on how to claim it.
“It’s that quick and that easy,” said Manacsa. “We call CalKids the fastest and easiest scholarship for students in California.”
Who is Eligible?
Regardless of family income, the eligibility for newborns is 100% universal, as long as the newborn was born in California on July 1, 2022, or anytime after. It’s recommended that parents wait about 90 days after their baby is born before they check for the scholarship and claim it to allow time to create their scholarship for their newborn.
“All that families need is three pieces of information. The first and most important thing they need is the local registration number, or the LRN for short, which is a 13-digit code that is on the baby’s birth certificate. It should be right there around the top right-hand corner and very easy to locate. They also need to provide the child’s date of birth and the name of the county in which the child’s birth was registered. Once they have those three things, they’re ready to rock and roll and claim their newborns’ very first CalKids scholarship,” Manacsa explained.
The eligibility for students, however, is determined by a local control funding formula, or LCFF. This formula takes into account different criteria. It considers whether the student receives meals through the National School Lunch Program, whether the family submitted an alternative household income form and if the student participates in other programs like CalFresh, CalWORKs or a food distribution program. It’s also taken into consideration if the student has English learner status, is migratory, homeless or is a foster youth.
A student’s eligibility is determined by the Department of Education which can provide up to $1,500 for college or career training for California’s public school students.
“Every single student in our program actually starts with a base scholarship deposit of $500. Now, if they’re determined to be foster youth, they’ll receive an additional $500 deposit, and if they’re identified as unhoused or homeless, they’ll receive an additional $500 on top of that. So, depending on a student’s status, they could receive up to the maximum of $1,500 in CalKids scholarship funding,” Manacsa explained.
To claim a student account, families will need three quick and easy pieces of information.
The first piece of information, and the most important, is the statewide student identifier (the SS ID). It’s a unique 10-digit code that is assigned to every single California public school student and can be located on a student’s transcript. If needed, your student’s school can help you locate the SSID. The student’s date of birth and the name of the county where the student was enrolled when their data was pulled by the CalKids program are also needed.
How to Redeem the Scholarship
To use the scholarship, students will have to be a minimum of 17 years old, and the funds will be available to them until the day they turn 26.
“As soon as a student graduates from high school and they’re 17 years old and they’ve graduated, they can log into the CalKids online portal,” said Manacsa. “They can type in the name of the institution or career program they’ll be attending, and we’ll cut a check and send it directly to the institution on their behalf. It’s quick and seamless, and doesn’t require social security information.”
The funds can be used all across California, even abroad, as long as that institution accepts FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) or federal financial aid and will accept CalKids funding.
The funds can be used for several different things: tuition-related fees, books, required supplies and certain room and board costs. If it can be considered a qualified higher education expense, the CalKids scholarship can be used to pay for it.
CalKids Has A Sister Program
While the CalKids account can grow with the market over time, families cannot contribute to it and, on its own, it’s a one-time disbursement. But, you can add to the account by contributing your own money with Scholar Share 529, CalKids sister program, which is also housed in the State Treasurer’s Office. It’s California’s official college savings plan, and it is a separate program that you can actually link to the CalKids account.
“We recommend opening a 529 account that allows families to contribute to the funds and can save money on their own for higher education,” said Manacsa.
The two programs can work together and provide a view of all of your balances in one location.
CalKids has recently partnered with the California Student Aid Commission and the California Community Colleges, which will increase outreach and help to get funds in the hands of students and families who need them the most.
Linda Vang, CalKids project coordinator at Fresno Immigrant and Refugee Ministry, said with outreach, they have successfully assisted 6,262 newborns and 2,136 students in enrolling in CalKids. The refugee communities in the central San Joaquin Valley include Hmong, Laotian, Slavic, Afghan, African and Syrian families.
She said the CalKids scholarships make a difference to those who often have few resources.
One of their own interns, Cynthia Velasquez, an undergraduate student at Fresno State from the small rural town, found while outreaching to the community she had a CalKids scholarship too.
“She reached her former high school counselor and requested her SSID number, and to her surprise, she was found eligible. She assumed that she was no longer qualified as a college student, but instead discovered that she had access to a scholarship that could support her future, and so Cynthia has now successfully claimed her CalKids scholarship, and plans to use it towards her graduate studies in social work. Cynthia’s journey reminds us that awareness and outreach are just as important as the resources themselves,” said Vang.
There have been many milestones, said Manacsa, who happily shared that CalKids now has 900,000 scholarships that have been claimed. “It’s an amazing, happy accomplishment to achieve. We’re really excited and jazzed about it, and there’s still a lot more families we’re ready and willing to impact.”
More information can be found @calkids on Instagram. You can also contact the CalKids call center at 1-888-445-2377 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bilingual support is available.