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Every newborn in Pa. will get a college savings account and 12 other changes (Trunc.)
Penn Live ^ | January 1, 2019 | Jan Murphy

Posted on 01/02/2019 8:23:31 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia

The year ushers in some changes that will affect Pennsylvanians' lives beyond swapping out the wall calendar. Here are 12 of them.

With the new year comes change -- and in Pennsylvania some of those changes will probably affect your life. Whether you're a state work, awaiting the birth of a child, drive a car or attend college, here are 13 changes you'll see in 2019.

--snip--

Babies born in Pennsylvania or adopted by Pennsylvania residents, starting on Jan. 1, will automatically receive a college savings account that has a $100 deposited into it.

The Keystone Scholars program is intended to provide seed money to encourage families to save for the child's post-secondary education, which is increasingly becoming a requirement in the 21st century workforce.

According to University of Kansas associate professor William Elliott, who has written extensively on children's savings accounts, children who have even small savings accounts for college are seven times more likely to attend and graduate from college than those who have no savings accounts.

(Excerpt) Read more at pennlive.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: college; newborns; pennsylvania
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I posted this article primarily for discussion on the taxpayer-funded college savings program. Are other states doing this?

Note: The article is actually incorrect, as the link provided to the Keystone Scholars Program indicates that only babies born in six pilot counties are eligible.

1 posted on 01/02/2019 8:23:31 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
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To: rightwingintelligentsia; All
Thank you for referencing that article rightwingintelligentsia. Please note that the following critique is directed at the article and not at you.

But are holders of these PA college savings accounts ultimately going to get educated or indoctrinated?

Insights welcome.

2 posted on 01/02/2019 8:35:55 AM PST by Amendment10
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

My parents opened a small savings account for me when I was born. It’s a great idea —and the kid can learn to save as s/he grows up too - but it’s still a parental not state responsibility imho


3 posted on 01/02/2019 8:36:46 AM PST by faithhopecharity (“Politicians arent born, they’re excreted.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Cute idea. I assume that many families won’t add to it.

At 6% interest, that $100 will be worth $285 when the kids turns 18.

However, by adding $20 a month for 18 years, the account will be over $7700.

I don’t agree with the program nor do I believe all young people should go to college.

If the fund can be used for trade schools etc, it’s a good deal.

One of my kids decided to get his CDL and become a truck driver. His CDL class had a grant attached and it only cost him $1000. If we had a state fund that we input money to, would we then lose it if the child decided not to pursue college?

Another of my kids did an associates at Community college. Hers was almost free to her because of scholarships and credits for good grades.

One of my kids could have used it. He is a newly minted Astronautical Engineer. His income is high enough that he’ll have all his debts paid off in a year or so.

It’s pretty cool. He makes a great income, lives cheap, drives a pile of junk and is almost debt free.


4 posted on 01/02/2019 8:44:17 AM PST by cyclotic ( Democrats must be politically eviscerated, disemboweled and demolished.)
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To: faithhopecharity; rightwingintelligentsia; Amendment10

Prepare your child BEFORE college, letting them all their lives who and what to expect when they get there.

Both of my kids waited a few years before going back to school. They worked in the real world, can smell leftist bullsh*t a mile away and have ZERO tolerance for it.

Both of them perfected the “Nod and Grin” technique for getting through the PC crap courses they needed to graduate. So in the end, they got what they needed and gave the leftists a giant middle finger.

IOW, get YOUR links and values in place in your kids, make them unbreakable BEFORE they walk through those doors, make them thoroughly AMERICAN ahead of time, and prepare them.

And in this day and age, Trade/Technical schools are probably a better bet. Actual, REAL work - electrical, plumbing, carpentry, auto/truck repair, masonry and stone work - are a better bet. They will ALWAYS have good paying jobs, usable skillsets, and will avoid the communist bullsh*t from the colleges.

I had two trade schools under my belt before I went back to night school (company paid), and I’ve never been unemployed.


5 posted on 01/02/2019 8:47:08 AM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: Amendment10

When everyone goes to college, no one goes to college. Thanks for axin’.


6 posted on 01/02/2019 8:47:26 AM PST by OKSooner (Whatever happened to, "The midterms are safe."?)
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To: OKSooner; All
"When everyone goes to college, no one goes to college. Thanks for axin’."

Good point.

7 posted on 01/02/2019 8:48:45 AM PST by Amendment10
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To: NFHale

Understood. As a professor at a top engineering college expressed it, were turning out graduates who can do operational calculus and design artificial intelligence algorithms in their sleep - but who can’t figure out which end of a soldering iron to hold when they’re awake”.


8 posted on 01/02/2019 8:52:43 AM PST by faithhopecharity (“Politicians arent born, they’re excreted.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: faithhopecharity

“...ut who can’t figure out which end of a soldering iron to hold when they’re awake”....”

Or which bathroom to use.


9 posted on 01/02/2019 8:53:26 AM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Is the state going to “monitor” these accounts to see if the parents actually put money into them?


10 posted on 01/02/2019 8:54:18 AM PST by hsmomx3
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To: NFHale

College account? An IRA would be better. Roth come to think of it.


11 posted on 01/02/2019 8:55:06 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

None of it should be funded by taxpayers.

Stealing from ME to pay for someone else is still theft. And at government (at any level) muzzle point, it’s extortion.


12 posted on 01/02/2019 8:57:04 AM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Ask not what your country can do for you ...


13 posted on 01/02/2019 8:57:59 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: cyclotic

Back in the 90s, in TX, the state offered a college fund which parents paid all on their own but the tuition costs were frozen at the date the account was opened. When your kids when to college, you only paid out of the account what college costs back when were rather than current costs. It worked great for us but they soon closed down new accounts because college tuition skyrocketed too high and too fast that the program failed. Thankfully, they kept their word by continuing the program for the original accounts.


14 posted on 01/02/2019 9:02:05 AM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: NFHale

Now that IS a very difficult thing to figure out! Ha! When I took the ( extremely popular) human sexuality course, they never ev n thought of that question ——- but that was back in the Paleolithic Era)


15 posted on 01/02/2019 9:03:47 AM PST by faithhopecharity (“Politicians arent born, they’re excreted.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: faithhopecharity

“...but that was back in the Paleolithic Era...”

Otherwise known as the Normal, Sane America period.


16 posted on 01/02/2019 9:05:37 AM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Government guaranteed student loans have created a Monster. It needs to be destroyed. Throwing more money at it isnt going to help.


17 posted on 01/02/2019 9:08:40 AM PST by Paradox (Don't call them mainstream, there is nothing mainstream about the MSM.)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

My anti-government cynicism tells me to ask why they are doing this.

Social Security ushered in the universal identification number, sometimes called the SSN. They never give without some benefit to the allmighty colossus called government.


18 posted on 01/02/2019 9:17:55 AM PST by I want the USA back (There are two sexes: male (pronoun HE), and female (pronoun SHE). Denial of this is insanity.)
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To: faithhopecharity

That reminds me of the commercial of the young man calling home because of a flat tire but is not sure what item is a lug wrench.

I will reference a true story from my office.
Eric buys his first house. He moves in and calls Bill to ask “who do you call to fill up your well?”.
The next day Eric calls Bill about the fact that he could not get the cordless drill he had borrowed from Bill to drill a hole in the wall. Bill says: “you have it in reverse”.
These happened ten years ago and we still tease Eric about it. FYI, Eric was an Air Force brat whose Dad was a Lt Coronel. He is the best golfer in the office. He is intelligent but does nothing around the house except mow the lawn.


19 posted on 01/02/2019 9:28:30 AM PST by woodbutcher1963
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To: NFHale

I have to agree with the part about technical/trade schools probably being the best bet for higher education. However, based on personal experience, I will differ in one area ...that of training for auto/truck repair. The trade can be good paying if one is in the right situation, but don’t count on it. After about 50 yrs. in that field, I pretty much failed to see much of the good pay, but saw a lot of the not-so-good pay. There are so many ways this job can be worked around to the disadvantage of the employee, partly because of the different pay systems. I almost always worked on commission & this can be very good in the right situation, but also very bad in the wrong situation. Generally speaking the auto repairman will need to be very good at what he does to make much of a living. He/she will need some natural ability as well as the formal training and there should be lots of ongoing update training as well. Without that,you will miss out on a lot of opportunity. Just wouldn’t want a young person to go into this field thinking they are almost instantly going to get rich.


20 posted on 01/02/2019 9:40:22 AM PST by oldtech
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