AMERICANS can receive an “automatic” one-time payment worth up to $1,500 – you just need a 10-digit number for cash.
Beginning this school year, school districts have to give information about CalKIDS – a program that creates college saving accounts and deposits for eligible students.
Americans can receive an “automatic” one-time payment worth up to $1,500[/caption]
CalKIDS creates deposits between a whopping $500 and $1,500, according to a fiscal report by School Services of California.
The new requirement means schools have to inform students and families about the accounts.
It was a provision added for the program in the recently enacted state budget.
Despite the money automatically deposited into savings accounts under students’ names, families are requird to claim the accounts by registering online with students’ Statewide Student Identifier (SSID).
This is a 10-digit number that shows on student transcripts.
The program launched in 2020, with 12 per cent of all student accounts statewide claimed, as of the end of March.
CalKIDS was created to help students and children from underprivileged communities to help them access higher education or career training.
Low-income public school students as well as English learners identified by the California Department of Education are automatically given $500 if they fit certain criteria.
These include being in grades first-12th during the 2021-22 school year, being enrolled in first grade during the 2022-23 school year, or are first graders in subsequent school years.
And an extra $500 is deposited for foster youth students, as well as another $500 for students classified as homeless.
Kids born in California, no matter their parents’ income, are granted $100 in an account.
Those born in the state between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, were awarded $25 before the seed deposit increased to $100.
And new parents should look into the payment, as over one million newborns are currently eligible, with nearly 9 per cent of newborn accounts claimed as of March 31.
Those who have an account can claim the cash up until 26 years of age.
The program’s director, Cassandra DiBenedetto, told EdSource: “If we all work together — the community-based organizations, the schools, everybody — we can ensure that every child in California knows that college and career training are within reach.”
Are ‘responsible tax refunds’ on the rise?
A new survey shows taxpayers are more likely to spend their refunds on rent, groceries and other necessities, rather than luxuries.
The poll of 2,000 U.S. taxpayers found nearly two in three (64%) have either already spent their tax refund money or are planning to soon. And all agree their refunds will be spent on necessary purchases.
Commissioned by TaxSlayer and conducted by Talker Research, the two-part study compared Americans’ initial tax refund ambitions pre-Tax Day to their post-Tax Day realities.
Four in five who have already spent their refunds spent it on essentials; top spends include bills like rent (58%), groceries (48%), paying down credit card debt (29%) and home repairs (13%).
Likewise, 72% who haven’t already spent their refunds are planning to invest it all in necessities.
The study revealed that participants received more than $2,300 on average in their refunds this year — higher than the average $1,700 that was predicted when the first study on this topic was conducted in December 2024.
Six in 10 (61%) said their refunds are an important part of their budgeting plans for 2025; an increase from 52% who felt the same about the role refunds played in their 2024 budgeting.
When asked in December, only 22% of Americans believed they would receive more this year than last, and 26% believed they would receive less. When asked how much they actually received, one-third (32%) said they received more this year than last year, while 28% reportedly received less.
The primary reasons people believe they received more this year were: working more (37%), adjustment of deductions or withholdings (31%), and getting a pay raise or promotion (16%).
Meanwhile, participants who received a smaller refund amount believe it was likely due to losing work (29%), moving to a higher tax bracket (21%) and having dependents age out of eligibility (11%).
Sixty-two percent felt happy and surprised by the amount they received; another major increase from last year, when a mere 40% recalled feeling happy with their 2024 tax refund.
