Boston Saves’ January Incentive Returns To Provide Boston Public Schools Families a Financial Boost

BPS families who log in to the Savings Center for the first time by January 31, 2025, will earn an extra $25 for their child’s savings account.

Mayor Michelle Wu today announced that Boston Saves, the City’s children’s savings account program, is offering a January incentive to encourage eligible Boston Public Schools (BPS) families to participate in the program. Families of BPS students in grades K2 - 5 who log in to the Boston Saves online savings platform for the first time by January 31, 2025, will earn an extra $25 for their child’s account. This money, in addition to the $50 provided in every Boston Saves account and any additional incentives families earn, can be used to pay for their child’s future college or career training.

“Boston Saves gives our community the tools to connect students and families with new economic opportunities that can be transformative,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “As we enter 2025, I encourage all BPS families to explore this program and learn more about how it can impact their children’s future.”

A joint program of the Worker Empowerment Cabinet and Boston Public Schools, Boston Saves automatically provides every BPS K2 student with a college savings account (CSA) seeded with $50 to give families a boost for their child’s future. The program also allows families to earn additional Boston Saves Dollars for their child’s account through ongoing incentives and access to financial education resources that make saving easier. Since its launch in 2019, Boston Saves has allocated nearly $1.7 million, including over $320,000 in family-earned incentives, to over 27,000 student accounts. 

"It is never too young to start thinking about one's career,” said Chief of Worker Empowerment Trinh Nguyen. “Boston Saves supports Boston's working families and parents to plan ahead on incremental steps to develop promising careers to ensure the best path for that child to grow into Boston's workforce."

“Boston Saves gives our youngest learners a head start on saving money to further their education, whether that’s for a college and career preparation program, or for future educational opportunities,” said Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper. “I am grateful to everyone involved for continuing to invest in our students and ensure that our families are aware of this opportunity to start saving for post-secondary success.”

Findings from the first year of a three-year evaluation of Boston Saves attribute participation in the program to significant positive effects on students’ academic success, including social-emotional development, reading frequency, parental life satisfaction and educational expectations. Research shows that the presence of savings can motivate post-secondary success. Additionally, low-income children with less than $500 in an account dedicated to higher education were three times more likely to enroll in college and four times more likely to graduate from college than families with no savings. With last year’s January incentive, over 600 BPS families earned $15,475 for their children’s futures. The January incentive is especially critical as it encourages families to take the necessary first step of logging into their accounts, thereby unlocking the program's benefits.

When a family logs in to the Savings Center, they can:

• See the money in their child’s Boston Saves account
• Link their own financial account to the Savings Center to track all their savings for their child in one place and earn an additional incentive
• Earn more money for their child’s Boston Saves account by taking simple steps like reading with their child, or saving regularly 

“Boston Saves is a great free resource for saving for your child’s education after high school,” said BPS Parent Raqael Duarte Hunt. “I especially loved having the opportunity to earn extra incentives for reading we were already doing at home. The program may seem too good to be true, but it is truly money with no strings attached that will help to aid my child's post secondary plans. I encourage all BPS parents to take advantage of the program.”

The Boston Saves New Year’s promotion will be applied to the accounts of all students whose families have logged in to the Savings Center for the first time since November 2024, when the platform first became available to current K2 kindergarten families. Currently, all K2-5 grade students in BPS have Boston Saves accounts. Families of students in select older grades may also have accounts (and be eligible for the promotion) if they were part of the Boston Saves pilot program or joined a pilot cohort. Families that have eligible children should have received an email from bostonsaves@boston.gov with a direct link to log into their child’s account. Parents/guardians who believe their child is eligible but did not receive an email can contact the Boston Saves team at bostonsaves@boston.gov with their child’s name, grade, and school. For more information, visit boston.gov/boston-saves.