Save for College Program Opt-Out Notice and Form for Parents and Guardians
Dear Parent/Guardian,
The NYC Department of Education (“DOE”) has partnered with the nonprofit NYC Kids RISE, Inc. on the NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program (“Program”). This free program provides qualifying students with money for qualified college and career training costs. NYC Kids RISE allocates $100 for each student in the Program in a “Scholarship Account”. Subject to funding, the City of New York and DOE are expanding the Program this year and your child’s school will be included. For more information, visit https://nyckidsrise.org
This notice contains important information about how to either automatically accept your child’s inclusion in the Scholarship Account for the Program, or take action to opt-out. A federal law called the (FERPA) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act stops the DOE from sharing a student’s personally identifiable information without permission. However, unless you tell us not to, the DOE can share some details about you and your child. These details are called “Directory Information.”
As of the 2025–26 school year, all NYC Public School kindergarten, first, second, third and fourth grade students are eligible to join the Save for College Program and receive an initial allocation of $100 in an NYC Scholarship Account. All schools with kindergarten, first, second, and third and fourth grade classes are required to ensure these families are aware of the program.
Please note that new first, second or third grade students includes those who enrolled in your school in late spring 2025.
The Save for College Program Intro Document https://nyckidsrise.org/downloadable-resources
The Save for College Program Intro Video https://nyckr.org/introvid
Parents/guardians have the opportunity to opt out of receiving an NYC Scholarship Account.
The initial opt-out period will take place from November 3 - December 3, 2025 for the 2025-26 school year, and applies to all kindergarten students and any first, second, third or fourth grade students who enrolled in your school in late spring 2025.If a family opts out, they will not receive an NYC Scholarship Account, they will not receive the initial $100 allocation, and their student’s data will not be shared with NYC Kids RISE and the technology vendor VistaShare.
Parents/guardians who want to participate in the Program simply take NO ACTION during the Opt-out Period.
During their 30-day opt-out period, parents/guardians who wish to change their child’s participation status by opting-out have two options:
- Parents/guardians can change their child’s participation status within the NYC Schools Account (NYCSA) https://www.schoolsaccount.nyc/. This is the recommended way for parents to opt out, re-enroll or cancel. After logging in to NYCSA, the parent/guardian should look at the main screen with all of the tiles. The parent/guardian can click on the “Forms'' tile, then click on the "view" button on the next page near “NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program.”
- Parents/guardians can return a signed the attached opt-out form to their child’s school for data entry into ATS within a defined 30-day period.
