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Keystone Scholars is an investment in every Pennsylvania child’s future.

Administered by the Pennsylvania Treasury Department through its PA 529 College and Career Savings Program, Keystone Scholars provides a $100 scholarship for every child born to a PA family since 2019 to be used for a child’s post-high school education expenses. The $100 scholarship is invested by Treasury and will grow alongside your child.

Keystone Scholars accounts can be used for qualifying technical, collegiate, apprenticeship and credentialing post-high school education expenses once a child turns 18 until age 29.

Treasury creates scholarship accounts monthly with birth data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Keystone Scholars families receive instructions in the mail on how to claim and view their child’s account about 5 months after their birth.

By claiming your Keystone Scholars account online, you can track your account’s growth and link it to your own companion PA 529 account to see all your child’s education savings in one place.

The Keystone Scholars scholarship can be used once the child turns 18 until age 29.

When your child is ready to use their Keystone Scholars scholarship, they must be the beneficiary of an individual PA 529 account to request a withdrawal, and they must be a resident of Pennsylvania.

Your child’s Keystone Scholars account can be used for qualified post-high school expenses including tuition, fees, books, and more at vocational or technical schools, apprenticeship programs, community colleges, or four-year universities.

Research shows that a child with even a modest amount of higher education savings is three times more likely to continue to a 2- or 4-year college and four times more likely to graduate.

Keystone Scholars sets the expectation at birth for every child in Pennsylvania to pursue some form of post-high school education, including community college, technical training and apprenticeships, and it encourages families to start saving on their own early in the child’s life.

To save additional funds for your child’s post-high school education, you can open a PA 529 College and Career Savings Program account. Doing so when your child is young gives your family the most time to save and for the money to grow. There is no minimum amount required to open or contribute to a PA 529 account. Learn more and open an account at pa529.com. Once your PA 529 account is open, link it to your Keystone Scholars account to see all your education savings in one place.

PA 529 plans help families save for education and provide special tax benefits to account owners as defined in Section 529 of the IRS tax code.

The PA 529 College and Career Savings Program offers two different plans. The PA 529 Guaranteed Savings Plan (GSP) is a lower-risk plan that helps your savings keep pace with rising tuition rates. The PA 529 Investment Plan (IP) lets you choose from a number of investment options from Vanguard. Over the past several years, the PA 529 IP has consistently received top ratings from Morningstar in its annual nationwide review of 529 plans.

Find out more at pa529.com.

By law, Keystone Scholars cannot use any taxpayer funds. It is funded by surplus investment earnings from the PA 529 Guaranteed Savings Plan Fund. Philanthropic donations and other resources can support targeted additional deposits.

The $100 scholarship is held in a custodial account within the PA 529 Guaranteed Savings Plan and invested by Treasury. Its growth is based on a historical average of tuition inflation at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

Foster children

Treasury has no information on who may be in foster care. If a child is born to a Pennsylvania resident on or after January 1, 2019, there is a Keystone Scholars account in that child’s name. Legal guardians can claim and access the child’s account as long as they have the child’s birth certificate number, birth date, and zip code of the address used at the time of the child’s birth. If the account has previously been claimed by another parent or guardian, we can assist you in resetting the login information upon verification. Contact us at mailto:Keystone@pa529.com or 800-440-4000.

Adopted children

All children born on or after January 1, 2019, who are subsequently adopted by Pennsylvania residents who were residents when the child was born, are eligible for a Keystone Scholars account. To update the child’s record, please provide:

• Copy of child's birth certificate
• Copy of parent's driver’s license
• Keystone Scholars Adoption and/or Overseas Birth Questionnaire
• These documents can be securely uploaded here.

Children born outside of Pennsylvania

Children born on or after January 1, 2019 to parents  who are Pennsylvania residents are eligible for Keystone Scholars. If your child was born in another state or the District of Columbia, please allow at least 8 months for their vital record to be transmitted to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and processed. At that time, please contact us to receive your child’s access code.

If your child was born abroad, please provide:

• Copy of child's birth certificate
• Copy of parent's driver’s license
• Keystone Scholars Adoption and/or Overseas Birth Questionnaire
• These documents can be securely uploaded here.

While Keystone Scholars accounts are available for all babies born to Pennsylvania residents on or after January 1, 2019, including adopted children, a PA 529 account is required to access Keystone Scholars funds after a child turns 18.

To open a PA 529 account the account owner must provide their Social Security number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) as well as a U.S. address, and meet the IRS definition of U.S. citizen or resident alien. The beneficiary must be a resident of Pennsylvania to access Keystone Scholars funds, but the PA 529 account owner does not have to be the parent or legal guardian.*

The Pennsylvania 529 College and Career Savings Program (PA 529) offers two different plans. The PA 529 Guaranteed Savings Plan (GSP) is a lower-risk plan that helps your savings keep pace with rising postsecondary tuition. The PA 529 Investment Plan (IP) lets you choose from a number of investment options from Vanguard. Over the past several years, the IP has consistently received top ratings from Morningstar in its annual review of 529 plans.

Opening a PA 529 account early in life gives savings the most time to grow, but a child with a Keystone Scholars account can open their own PA 529 account at age 18 (using only their own SSN or ITIN) to access their Keystone Scholars funds.

*All assets in a PA 529 account, regardless of the source, become the property of the account owner. The purpose of PA 529 is to provide a tax-advantaged way to save for the education of the beneficiary, but it is possible for the account owner to take a non-qualified withdrawal for another purpose.

For children born in Pennsylvania on or after January 1, 2019, families may decide to permanently opt-out of Keystone Scholars. By opting out of Keystone Scholars, your child will not be eligible to receive their $100 scholarship starter deposit for higher education. By continuing the opt-out process, you are agreeing that you understand that opting-out of Keystone Scholars is permanent and your child will not be eligible to participate in the future.

Visit the  Begin Opt-Out Process page to permanently opt-out of Keystone Scholars. You will need your child’s date of birth (DOB) and birth certificate number to complete the process.

Begin Opt-Out Process