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The CSA Manager will raise awareness of Treasury’s Keystone Scholars program
Harrisburg, PA — Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced today that Karen McDermott, formerly with the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, is joining her staff as the new Manager of Children’s Savings Accounts (CSA), a position within Treasury’s Bureau of Savings Programs to oversee the Keystone Scholars program.
“I’m excited to welcome Karen to Treasury’s team as our new Manager of Children’s Savings Accounts and look forward to working with her to continue building Keystone Scholars,” Garrity said. “Keystone Scholars is a national leader among CSA programs and provides tremendous opportunities for the children of our state, especially when linked with a PA 529 College and Career Savings Program account. I know that Karen will use her experience to help more families across the state understand the great value of every child having an account in their name – and motivate them to save early for their child’s future education.”
Most recently at the Pennsylvania Bankers Association as Senior Director, Membership, McDermott was responsible for member engagement, financial literacy and assisted in developing workforce initiatives. McDermott has also worked in management and director roles with the American Heart Association (Capital Region), JDRF (Central Pennsylvania Chapter), and Trinity High School in Camp Hill.
“I’m excited to join the Pennsylvania Treasury and help grow the Keystone Scholars program,” McDermott said. “I’m passionate about financial literacy and look forward to using my experience in building relationships to help educate families and our communities about the importance of building assets for their children’s future educational needs.”
In her new role, McDermott will manage new program and partner development, including operations, data analytics, and evaluation functions. She will coordinate closely with Treasury’s outreach, marketing and operations staff to implement and raise awareness of Keystone Scholars, with goals of increasing parental expectations for their child’s education, supporting the development of a future-focused identity in children, and encouraging parents to save early in a PA 529 account.
Keystone Scholars is the first legislated, statewide, universal, automatic, at-birth CSA program in the country. It provides a $100 deposit to every baby born to Pennsylvania residents starting in 2019 and later, including those adopted, for future postsecondary education expenses. The program uses no taxpayer money, and the funds are invested by Treasury. Accounts can be used after a child turns 18 to help pay for a wide variety of technical, collegiate and apprenticeship expenses.
There are currently more than 578,000 funded Keystone Scholars accounts. Keystone Scholars families have already saved more than $66 million in linked PA 529 accounts.
The PA 529 College and Career Savings Program is designed to help families steadily and strategically save for future educational expenses. Treasury offers two plans; the PA 529 Guaranteed Savings Plan (GSP), which allows you to save at today’s tuition rates to meet tomorrow’s tuition costs, and the PA 529 Investment Plan (IP), which offers a number of investment options. PA 529 accounts have significant state and federal tax advantages and can be used for a wide variety of qualifying technical, collegiate, apprenticeship and K-12 educational expenses.
To learn more about Keystone Scholars, visit pa529.com/keystone.
STACY GARRITY, STATE TREASURER
Information provided to TVL by:
Samantha Heckel
