First Iowa babies of 2007 get state scholarships

Some of the first babies born in this new year will get some help preparing for college. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald says the College Savings Iowa plan is giving the babies a gift. Fitzgerald says the first 40 babies born in the state, one per hospital, will receive a 500-dollar scholarship from College Savings Iowa. He says the best day to start saving for college is the first day of your life. He says the parents of the babies who don’t win the scholarships should start accounts for their kids too. Fitzgerald says once you have the account going, you get in the habit of putting money in and saving for them. Fitzgerald says C-S-I has benefits beyond saving for college. He says you can deduct up to 25-hundred dollars in contributions a year from your state income tax, and the money will grow state and federal tax free. Fitzgerald says the scholarship program began three years ago and started just in Des Moines, and now has expanded to the entire state.