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ATTENTION PARENTS!
FREE. Child Saving Account (CSA) to help you and your family save for college.
The OpportunityLA program launched it’s first cohort in Spring 2021 at a select number of schools.
The program will be available to all LAUSD first-graders on March 21st, 2022.
About Opportunity L.A.
Opportunity L.A. is a free college savings account with an initial $50 deposit for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) first-grade students.
Learn more about Opportunity LA
Did you know?
Students with college savings are:
- 3 times more likely to go to college
- 4 times more likely to graduate from college
Benefits of a Child’s Savings Account
- A children’s savings account can help you and your child save money for their education after high school
- First grade LAUSD students will automatically receive a savings account with a $50 initial deposit
- Easy access to make deposits in person, at a branch or online
- Savings accounts are available to students regardless of student or parent’s income, background, or immigration status
- Opportunities for additional savings rewards
Accessing Your Account
- To begin, visit www.OpportunityLA.com.
- Scroll down to the “Accessing Your Account” section, and click where it says, “Click here to register or login to your Child’s Savings Account” – you will be directed to the Opportunity LA registration page.
- Select the option to register on the right side of the webpage.
- Enter the student’s account number, which can be found on the Savings Account ID Card attached to the welcome letter you received in the mail.
- Enter the student’s date of birth and zip code – make sure that this is the same zip code used for the address on file with Los Angeles Unified School District – and hit “Next.”
- Follow the steps to activate the student’s account, including verifying your identity, setting up the account with a username and password, and creating security questions.
- Parents and guardians will input their first and last name, as well as their relationship to the student.
- Access the student’s account to make deposits, check the balance, and look for savings rewards.
Click here to register or login to your Children’s Savings Account.
Forms And Documents
Click the following link for:
Definitions for Program Rules and Guidelines
- Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs): Long-term, restricted savings accounts established for first-grade students enrolled in participating LAUSD schools to support student’s post-secondary education.
- County Student (“County Student”): CSA Program-eligible first graders enrolled in LAUSD schools that reside in the unincorporated areas of the County and cities outside the City of Los Angeles.
- City Student (“City Student”): CSA Program-eligible first graders enrolled in LAUSD schools that reside within the boundaries of the City of Los Angeles.
- Custodial Account (“Custodial Account”): Financial account that incorporates CSAs, established for the benefit of the Student. Administered and managed by the CSA Program in accordance with the program Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA).
- Incentive (“Incentive”): Any additional CSA funding, not including family or friend’s contributions, beyond the CSA Seed Funds that may be contributed to CSAs based upon specific criteria established and mutually agreed upon by all the Parties, (as defined in the MOA). Students may earn Incentives only while enrolled in an eligible LAUSD school. Use of all Incentives are subject to the requirements as set forth in Exhibit A, which is attached and incorporated by reference.
- Legal Guardian (“Legal Guardian”): Someone who is not the child’s parent, however, has legal custody of the child and can provide health, education, and financial decisions on behalf of the child.
- Non-Program Contributions or Non-Program Funds (“Non-Program Contribution or Non-Program Funds”): Deposits of funds contributed to a CSA by a person or organization not at the direction or associated with the CSA Program for the benefit of the student.
- Participating Schools (“Participating Schools”): LAUSD Schools selected for the CSA Program each Year and subject to the Program requirements in accordance with Section VII – School Selection Plan below.
- Program Contributions or Program Funds (“Program Contribution or Program Funds”): Initial Seed Deposit, Incentives, and any growth amount accrued by the Custodial Account for the benefit of the Students.
- School Selection Plan (“School Selection Plan”): Yearly plan used to identify LAUSD schools to participate in the CSA Program as mutually agreed upon by all the Parties and in accordance with Section VII – School Selection Plan below.
- Seed Funding (“Seed Funding”): Initial funding to establish CSAs for the benefit of Students as agreed upon by all the Parties.
- Student or Participant (“Student or Participant”): A City or County Student that is the intended beneficiary of the CSA and a) currently attends an LAUSD school or b) graduated from an LAUSD high school.
- Year (“Year”): July 1st to June 30th.
- Escheat: A legal process that transfers ownership of abandoned property in this case CSA program funds, to the state in accordance with state law. Before the state can take full ownership, it must attempt to find the owners (Student, Student parent or legal guardian) and provide an opportunity for the Student to claim their funds.
Frequently Asked Questions
About the Program
Beginning March 2022, all LAUSD first graders will have an account automatically opened for them, unless their parent/guardian opted out. If you have any questions about accessing your student’s account please send us an email at cifd.opportunityla@lacity.org.
The Opportunity LA Account number is a 15-digit number which always begins with 332209 and looks like the following:
332209123456789
Recently a new Welcome letter went out with an Account Card which did not have a number such as this on it. Rather it had the Participant ID number which looks like the following:
2031JS25H
Families can bring either one of these numbers into Citibank and the branch personnel will accept a deposit for the account.
There is no cost to a student or a family to participate in
Opportunity LA
An OLA account has already been opened in the student’s name. To register the account, log into https://mysavingsaccount.com/account/ola. You will need to provide the following information:
- Student account number found in the welcome letter
- Student’s date of birth
- Zip code
- Email address
Program funds may be used for pre-college education expenses and post-secondary education. Qualified account uses will be determined by the Program and include, but are not limited to: pre-college expenses; certain expenses related to or necessary to prepare for post-secondary education; college application fees; ACT/SAT testing fees or preparatory classes; and pre-enrollment enrichment services such as “summer bridge” programs, and deposits for on-campus room and board, post-secondary education expenses for tuition, mandatory fees, books, supplies (including computer equipment), any other costs necessary to attend school, and accommodations for special needs students to attend school (Qualified Account Use). Post-secondary education includes: colleges; universities; vocational schools; and any two or four-year degree programs from accredited institutions.
To be eligible for a qualified account use, the participant must either be currently enrolled in, or graduate from an LAUSD high school.
How it Works
In the case of a family emergency, the student or parent/guardian may request an early withdrawal of some or all contributions in the student’s account. **Restrictions
apply.
If a student who has an OLA account transfers to another LAUSD school, the student’s school information is updated and the OLA account continues as is. If the student leaves LAUSD, then the student’s OLA account will be closed. Online viewing access of a student’s OLA account will be terminated as of the date of account closure. If any Non-Program Contributions were made to the OLA account, a check payable to the student’s name will be mailed to the address on record within twenty (20) business days of the OLA account closure. All incentives and Program Contributions are returned to the Program. The parent or legal guardian of the student will be asked to destroy and discard the student’s account ID Card.
If the student who previously participated in the Program returns to an LAUSD school, a new OLA account may be established for the student and, depending on funding availability, the initial $50 deposit will be credited to the new OLA account. Please contact the OLA program manager at cifd.opportunityla@lacity.org for additional inquiries.
Opportunity LA differs from Scholarshare529 in that our program is an opt-out model, the accounts are accessible to anyone regardless of their legal status, the program will not affect a family’s public benefits, and is completely free for families. ScholarShare 529 models are typically opt-in, gain a higher interest but will likely be reportable for tax and benefit purposes. Scholarshare 529 accounts may also have penalties for early withdrawals.
Contributions made by parents, family, friends or legal guardians may be transferred to a 529 account upon request by the participant. All program contributions including the initial deposit and any incentive that the student has earned from OpportunityLA while in the program cannot be transferred and will stay in the custodial account. The student account will remain open unless a parent or legal guardian requests to close the account at which point they must fill out a student account closure form. For more information on contributions see Program Contribution and Incentives.
Once a Student Account is Open
Here are the instructions for registering for your account at that time:
The link for Opportunity LA Participant Portal is https://mysavingsaccount.com/account/ola. This link takes the User to the Opportunity LA Login and Registration screen.
- Step 1: To Register for access, the User enters the information requested on the right side of the screen. The User must provide the Citi Start Saving® Account Number, the Date of Birth and the Zip Code for the Participant. Once finished, the User clicks “Next” to move to the next step.**
- Step 2: Upon click, a pop up window will appear on screen with the Program Rules. The User must read through the rules and scroll to the bottom of the window to click either “Accept” or Cancel.
- Clicking “Accept” takes the User to the next step in the Registration Flow.
- Clicking “Cancel” stops the registration flow for the User.
- Step 3: The User will create an Online Account Record by providing information for the fields of email, username, password, password confirmation. Once finished, the User clicks “Next” to move to the next step. **
- Step 4: The User chooses Security Questions and the related Answers. Once finished, click “Next” to complete registration.**
- Step 5: Upon click, the User receives the Confirmation screen and may then “Log In” to the Participant Portal by clicking the “Login” button using the username and password created in Step 3.
**Please note, if information provided in Steps 1, 3, or 4 is incomplete, upon click of “Next”, the system will outline the incomplete fields in red. The information must be completed in order to proceed. Once completed, upon click of “Next” the system will move the User on to the next step in the Registration process.
Did you know that you, your child, extended family, and friends can make deposits into an OLA account? All you need is the student’s name and account number.This can be done in a variety of ways?
In person at a local Los Angeles Citibank branch:
Step 1: Enter your address.
Step 2: Select Filter.
Step 3: Select Branches and Apply Filter.
- Cash – You can make cash deposits, with a valid government-issued photo ID, and one additional identifying document.
- Check or money order – You will need the student’s OLA Account number and Student’s name.
By mail:
Make a check or money order payable to your child’s name, include their account number in the memo section of the check, and mail to:
Citi Children’s Savings Accounts
P.O. Box 790020
St. Louis, MO 63179-9966
See is we can link find a local Citibank into our webpage as follows to open window:
Please note that Citibank Branches are limited and not accessible to all local communities. For more information about finding a nearest Citibank branch you can use the Citibank Branch Locator https://online.citi.com/US/ag/citibank-location-finder or Google search.
Look for the Merchant Name Opportunity LA (OLA) in your bank’s Bill Pay service. You can set up a one-time payment or recurring payments to the Participant’s account record using this service.
No, the funds are held by the City of Los Angeles for the student and cannot be counted as part of household income.
Parents or legal guardians who do not wish their child to participate in the Program have the option to opt-out initially or close the account after initial participation in the CSA. LAUSD will provide the opt-out form to parents or legal guardians to fill out and submit it to their school. Then, LAUSD will confidentially provide a list of students who have not opted-out to the Los Angeles Housing + Community Investment Department.
In the case of a closed CSA, any Program Funds shall return to the Program and any Non-Program Funds, will be released to the beneficiary.
If you need to set up the OLA Program as a Bill Pay merchant at your financial institution, follow the steps below:
Log into your bank’s online portal and proceed to the Bill Pay section.
Enter and save the Bill Pay merchant details as follows for all fields as applicable:
Merchant Name — Enter Program Name (Opportunity LA)
Account # — Enter your student’s XX-digit account number (provided in the welcome letter)
Merchant Address — Enter the address: P.O. Box 790020 St. Louis, MO 62179-9966
Merchant Phone Number — XXX-XXX-XXXX
Follow the prompts to add the merchant and set up a one-time or recurring payment. Once you have entered this merchant in your bank’s Bill Pay section, you will not have to enter the merchant’s information again and all payments will be sent electronically.
For additional information about the program, contact us at: cifd.opportunityla@lacity.org
