Most L.A. Kids Haven't Claimed Their Free College Money From California

Low-income public school students can claim up to $1,500 through CalKIDS with an ID number printed on report cards.

Your child may have up to $1,500 for college sitting in a state account, and odds are nobody in your house has claimed it.

In Los Angeles County, about 1.1 million public school students qualify for the accounts, and fewer than 20% of them have been claimed, LAist first reported on Sept. 30. The figure came from Cassandra DiBenedetto, executive director of California's ScholarShare Investment Board. For babies, the outlet reported, the claim rate is lower still, at about 11%.

The program is called the California Kids Investment and Development Savings Program, or CalKIDS. The state started it in 2022 and has since opened college accounts for more than 6 million California children.

Who gets what

There are two ways a child ends up with money in an account:

• Babies born on or after July 1, 2022, can get up to $175.
• Low-income public school students can claim up to $1,500.

The money is meant for higher education, and it has to be used by the time your child turns 26.

Why so few families have claimed it

DiBenedetto's explanation is a pretty ordinary one. Parents of newborns know an account exists, she told LAist, but college feels a long way off, and "there's not a sense of urgency among some parents." Families are busy, and a form for something 18 years away loses to a form due Friday.

You're wondering whether waiting costs you anything. There's no deadline to claim, and the money's already invested and growing in the account.

The case for doing it now is about the kid, not the balance. DiBenedetto says children who know the money is there are more likely to picture themselves heading to college, and they can watch the account grow as they get older. She described talking with kids in second and third grade who'd already picked a school: "I'm gonna go to UC Santa Barbara."

The state is working with the Los Angeles Unified School District and other districts to get students signed up. You don't have to wait for your school to reach you.

How to claim it

1. Go to CalKIDS.org and check whether your child qualifies.
2. For a baby born on or after July 1, 2022, get out the birth certificate. You'll need the Local Registration Number printed on it, often shortened to LRN.
3. For a public school student, you'll need the Statewide Student Identifier, or SSID. It's on your child's report cards and transcripts.
4. Enter the number on the site to claim the account.

The timing is handy. Families with older kids are starting the federal financial aid application, which opened in late September, and this is a second pot of money that's easy to forget.

Can't find a report card? Call your child's school and ask for their Statewide Student Identifier.

Source: laist.com, retrieved October 2, 2026.