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PRESS RELEASEOffice of Missouri State
Treasurer |
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PRESS RELEASEOffice of Missouri State
Treasurer |
JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman called up on the General Assembly to enact the Missouri Legacy Initiative, a plan she has developed that would provide matching college grants for parents or grandparents who start college savings plans for their child by opening a MOST account. The plan would generate approximately $2.5 million dollars per year to be used for these scholarships by using interest earned from unclaimed property to help low and middle-income families pay college costs for their children.
“I want every child in this state to have the opportunity to go to college. Today, we’re making a better way for low- and middle-income Missourians to save and get their children there,” Steelman said. “This plan uses ingenuity and hard work in the Treasurer’s Office – at no cost whatsoever to Missouri citizens – to generate millions to help families pay for college.”
The plan is in a bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Cunningham and was heard by the House Committee on Financial Institutions on Tuesday. House Bill 2035 would decrease the amount of time insurance companies, stock companies and government agencies hold abandoned property before turning it over to the state from five years to three years.
Property owners could still claim property belonging to them, as they can today, whenever the rightful owner is found -- even if it is an heir who claims it one hundred years from now. The State Treasurer’s office holds this property in perpetuity for taxpayers and tries to find the rightful owner.
This change would generate approximately $50 million over two years that would be invested in perpetuity by the Treasurer’s office as the Missouri Legacy Trust. Earnings from the trust – approximately $2.5 million per year at current rates -- would be administered by the Missouri Higher Education Savings Board to be used for incentives and grants to help Missouri families save for college.
“This program creates a lasting legacy that will help all Missouri children have the opportunity to attend college,” Steelman said. “And helping make college education a reality for Missouri’s children at no cost to Missouri taxpayers is a legacy we can be proud of.”
The abandoned fund would continue to make regular transfers to the State School Monies Fund and to the General Revenue Fund so no current funding would be reduced to state programs or services.
Steelman said the program is intended to work in conjunction with the enhanced and expanded MOST – Missouri’s 529 College Savings Program – that will be implemented next month to increase Missouri citizens’ ability to invest tax-free for their children’s college education costs.
She also noted that with individual savings at an all-time low and college tuition costs at an all-time high, college savings programs are increasingly important in helping Missouri children get into college.