CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — A college education isn't cheap, but programs like the Cuyahoga County College Savings Account are supposed to alleviate some of that financial pain. The program shut down more than a decade ago, though, so now parents are wondering where that money went.
According to a pamphlet for the program, it was free to participate.
Each Cuyahoga County kindergartner, like now-senior in high school, Arianna Vaughn, was automatically enrolled at the start of this program.
Cuyahoga County deposited $100 into each account to get the ball rolling, and then families were provided physical deposit slips to continue adding to the pot.
"The College Savings Account program may secure donated funds to add to your account, but the primary way your child's account will grow is through your contributions," a pamphlet for the program says.
The account was opened through KeyBank. An account number associated with Vaughn's name was created.
Vaughn's mom, Deborah, said she didn't use any of the deposit slips, so all that was sitting in this account was the county's $100 contribution.
With Vaughn graduating soon and heading to Kent State in the fall for nursing, Deborah said she went to withdraw the $100 a couple of weeks ago, but found out the account had been closed and there was no money available to her.
"I went down to the bank to find out all the accounts had been closed out. I was asking every parent I could think of and parents couldn't remember the program," Deborah said.
She then shared her experience on Facebook. That's when, through other parents, she found out all accounts had been allegedly closed in 2015.
"I was stunned. It was a bank account. I mean, I didn't think you could just go in and withdraw money from somebody else's bank account. Once you have a bank account, it's secured I thought. Somebody else opened it, I didn't think you could just go in and take the money out," Deborah said.
Now she's asking where the money intended for her daughter went and why she wasn't notified of the program's ending.
"I would just like to know what their ultimate plan was because this is a program that was started in kindergarten and the students are just becoming seniors now, so it was a long term investment," Deborah said.
"Do you feel like the county owes you answers?," I asked her.
Deborah said, "I think they should let us know. They should let us know."
I reached out to Cuyahoga County Press Secretary Jennifer Ciaccia for information on Wednesday.
Ciaccia confirmed the program ended in 2015.
"At this time it appears that most everyone who participated received their money. The county does still have a small amount of funds that weren’t dispersed/collected because we could not locate the individuals to pay out, or they didn’t respond to notices that were sent out," Ciaccia said.
The Vaughn family is now getting in touch with the county in an effort to collect the money.
If anyone else was a part of this program but has yet to see any money returned to them, email fiscalquestions@cuyahogacounty.gov.
