Illinois General Assembly Passes Children’s Savings Account Legislation

If Signed By Governor, Bipartisan Effort Will Make College Completion Four Times Likelier for Kids in Illinois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 30, 2019

PRESS CONTACTS: Jenna Severson (o) 312-368-0310

SPRINGFIELD, IL – Yesterday the Illinois Senate passed legislation to create the country’s largest children’s savings account (CSA) program. If signed by Governor Pritzker, the program, run by the Illinois State Treasurer, would automatically deposit $50 into a college savings account for each child born or adopted in Illinois after January 1, 2021. In response to a candidate survey issued by Woodstock last year, then candidate Pritzker indicated his support for a CSA program.

Woodstock Institute has long supported the policy. Woodstock’s president, Dory Rand, served  as a  co-chair  of  the  Illinois  Children’s Savings Account  Task  Force created  by  the Illinois General  Assembly in 2009. Dory Rand offered the following statement about the passage of the Children’s Higher Education Savings Accounts legislation (HB2237):

“Fostering  early  childhood  development  and  expanding  opportunities  to obtain post-secondary  education and training  for  all  Illinois  children through a  Children’s  Savings  Account  program  is  a  dream  come true. I  saw  the  promise  of these  programs  when I  administered  the  first  CSA  program  in Illinois  from  2004 to 2007. Since  then, a growing  body  of  research has  documented the  positive  impacts  for  kids  and  families  of  these  programs.”

Read the full press release from Heartland Alliance. Learn more about the benefits from CSAs from our 2017 research report Building Brighter Futures.

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Woodstock Institute is a leading nonprofit research and policy organization in the areas of equitable lending and investments, wealth creation and preservation, and safe and affordable financial products and services. Woodstock Institute works locally and nationally to create a financial system in which lower-wealth persons and communities of color can safely borrow, save, and build wealth so that they can achieve economic security and community prosperity.