Students who currently are ninth-graders at Des Moines’ North High School will each receive a tax-free college savings account, thanks to a $750,000 grant from Wells Fargo, By Degrees Foundation announced today.
The grant is from a national Wells Fargo initiative to help students in low- to moderate-income families increase their ability to save money to pay for postsecondary education or training. In addition, the grant will also be used to provide college savings accounts to students in the next three incoming ninth-grade classes at North.
Emily Westergaard
Each account, known formally as 529 college savings plans, will be seeded with $200. Additional money from the grant will be added to the accounts when students achieve grade-point average and attendance goals as well as other milestones. Wells Fargo’s focus is on helping students start saving early for post-secondary expenses, which is why they choose to support ninth-graders, according to a foundation spokesperson.
“We see that the kids who have these accounts are motivated and incentivized to be successful in high school,” said Emily Westergaard, CEO of By Degrees Foundation, a nonprofit that works with students to improve high school graduation and postsecondary readiness rates through future-focused planning, savings programs, and other activities. The nonprofit currently serves students at Findley Elementary and Harding Middle School and North.
“This is a huge opportunity for us to expand our program and have an even bigger impact on our students,” Westergaard said.
The nonprofit began in 1990 as part of the national “I Have a Dream Foundation.” In late 2018, the group disaffiliated with the national network, becoming a local nonprofit under the name By Degrees Foundation.
The foundation launched its college savings account program in 2014-15 at Findley, after studying research that showed the accounts play a role in increasing high graduation and postsecondary completion rates. A subsequent analysis showed that students with the accounts “understood that they had a tailwind behind them,” Westergaard said. “Students who didn’t start with us at Findley felt a little like they were left behind. … That’s part of why we’re excited about [the grant]. It tells students that it’s not too late to start saving.”
The grant from Wells Fargo is part of a larger effort by the foundation to expand the 529 program to all North students. For the past eight months, By Degrees Foundation has quietly raised $4.3 million that will be used in part to start 529s for North’s 10th- through 12th-graders who don’t have an account. The foundation, whose goal is to raise $5 million in the campaign, hopes to expand the college savings program to other schools in the Des Moines district.
By Degrees Foundation also plans to use $250,000 from the Wells Fargo grant to pay for costs associated with staffing and operating a two-year financial health coach pilot program. Students would receive financial coaching and post-secondary planning through schoolwide and small-group activities as well as individually.
Coming in the May 8 Business Record: Learn more about By Degrees Foundation and three students who have benefited from the program.
