Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com
Children born or adopted in Colorado can soon have a college savings account partially funded for them by the government.
Gov. Jared Polis on Monday signed House Bill 1280, setting aside $100 for all Colorado kids born or adopted between 2020 and 2040. The amount is adjusted for inflation, so it may be more than $100 in future years.
The new law creates savings accounts for Colorado children through CollegeInvest, a division within the Department of Higher Education that does not use taxpayer dollars. As much as $3.4 million from a CollegeInvest scholarship fund could be needed to pay for the new law next year.
“We are using that scholarship fund but it will not negatively impact our other programs,” said CollegeInvest CEO Angela Baier in an interview before the bill signing. “We’ll continue doing matching grants at the same level and we’ll continue doing scholarships.”