The Northport Promise Introduces New Program To Help Students Save Money For Post-Secondary Education

A new grant-funded program is launching to assist students at Northport Public School (NPS) in saving money for post-secondary education.

The Northport Promise, a nonprofit organization established in 2007 to help NPS graduates pay for trade school or college, announced on Tuesday that it was rolling out a new dimension to its work. Per a press release, students will now have “additional support in planning for education expenses after high school through a new Children’s Savings Account program,” to be administered by The Northport Promise. The program is supported by a grant from the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan.

The program, called “Promise Saves,” will launch with each class of NPS kindergarteners being automatically enrolled, with their new savings accounts receiving $100 each. From there, the accounts will be configured so that families can freely add investments to their student’s account. The Northport Promise will also make annual contributions to each savings account. The goal is to give students and families some assistance in planning ahead and saving money for whatever educational path they decide to take after high school graduation.

“We want students to dream big when thinking about careers and saving for college or trade school,” said Ryan Blessing, who is both the president of the Northport and one of the first NPS graduates ever to receive a Northport Promise scholarship when the organization launched. “And we want to help them understand the benefits of saving early and often through financial education.”

The Northport Promise awarded its first scholarships in 2008, and has since given out over $425,000 in scholarships to approximately 100 NPS students.