Program Rules for Cass Kickstart

Cass Kickstart Child Savings Accounts (CSA) are opened and maintained by Circle Federal Credit Union to help Cassopolis Public Schools (CPS) students save for college. A CSA account will be maintained automatically for the benefit of individual students enrolled in Kindergarten at Cassopolis Public Schools. The student and the student’s parent/guardian may make or authorize contributions to the CSA account for the benefit of the student. CSA accounts are deposit only accounts. No withdrawals can be made from the CSA account except through the CSA Program Administrator and unless they are qualified withdrawals, as discussed below.

Account information

CSA accounts will be opened and maintained by Circle Federal Credit Union. The accounts will grow through contributions made or authorized by the student and/or their parent/ guardian. Additional contributions, matches, and/or incentives may be provided by the CSA program or additional contributors to the program. Students must be enrolled in Cassopolis Public Schools to receive CSA Program contributions, matches, or incentives. All CSA account assets will be held by the Committee for the student in accordance with CSA program rules. For any year the student is not enrolled in Cassopolis Public Schools, the CSA account will remain active for use by the student and his or her parent/guardian when the student or family has made contributions but will not be eligible for match or incentive deposits from the CSA Program. When no student/ family contributions to the CSA account have been made for the benefit of the student, the student may be unenrolled from the CSA Program at the discretion of the Committee. All other program rules will still apply. The account balance and transaction history will be available online for review by the student and their parent/guardian. The making or authorizing of a deposit to the CSA account for the benefit of an individual student constitutes acceptance of the CSA program rules by the student and family.

 Contribution limits

There is no contribution limit to the CSA account. No withdrawals can be made from the CSA account at any time unless they are qualified withdrawals, as discussed below.

Withdrawals

Requests for Qualified Withdrawals and Account Maturity Withdrawals may be made to the Cass Kickstart Administrator for qualified higher education expenses such as tuition, mandatory fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for enrollment or attendance, or for any other eligible purpose that is in accordance with federal qualified tuition plan rules. (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf) Eligible institutions include private colleges, public universities, community colleges, graduate schools, and trade schools or professional certificate programs around the country. All withdrawals must be made prior to the student attaining the age of 25. For students that serve in a national service program (such as the US Military or Peace Corps), each year of service may increase the maturity date by one year, to a maximum of five years. If a student does not use these funds for a qualified withdrawal, any non-CSA program funds (including contributions by the student parent/ guardian) will be returned to the student at age 23. Any funds contributed by the CSA Program to the CSA Account will be returned to the CSA program. In the case of an emergency, hardship, or unforeseen circumstance, the student and/or parent/guardian may submit a nonqualified use withdrawal request to the CSA Program for review. While not automatically granted, each request will be considered on a case by case basis. A maximum of three non-qualified withdrawals may be granted. The Program Rules are subject to change. Timely notification will be provided for any changes to the Program Rules.

Leaving the District

When Cass Kickstart to Careers is notified by the school district that a student has moved, the student account will be closed.  The balance will be placed in a “reserve” status for a period of three (3) years.  During this three (3) year period, the student/family can contact Cass Kickstart and advise that they wish to continue to add to the account, and the account will be re-opened.  At least one (1) deposit will be required to be made to the account annually by the student/family for the account to continue to remain open.  After three (3) years without student/family deposits, the full amount of the account will be forfeited and returned to Cass Kickstart to benefit future students.  

Amended: July 19, 2022