More than 100 St. Louis families and their schools received nearly $80,000 in grants and college scholarships from Wells Fargo Advisors at the 2nd annual Focus on College! Celebration Dinner, held on May 11. Essay contest winners were presented with checks and students shook hands with Wells Fargo Advisors executives as well as Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel and St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura Jones.
One grand prizewinner received a $5,290 contribution to a MOST 529 account from Wells Fargo Advisors as part of the program. Ten additional prizewinners each won a $529 contribution to a MOST 529 account.
“We know saving for higher education is important and we have seen the power of scholarship accounts,” Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel said. “What Wells Fargo, the United Way of Greater St. Louis and other partners in the St. Louis region have shown is that it is more than money. We are providing students and their families with skills. These skills are helping them succeed in the classroom but also in their everyday lives.”
Wells Fargo partnered with the United Way to administer the Focus on College! program, which is in its second year.
“The program started because we wanted to leverage our expertise as a financial services firm and teach families about saving and how to make college a reality,” said Desiree S. Coleman, Vice President, Community Relations, Wells Fargo Advisors.
Wells Fargo team members volunteered to teach a free financial education curriculum, called “Hands on Banking,” to children and families.
“To do that, we hosted ‘Focus on College! family finance nights at five different St. Louis schools, City Academy, City Garden Montessori, Loyola Academy, KIPP: St. Louis and St. Cecelia,” Coleman said.
Wells Fargo also helps families get started on the road to saving.
She added, “As families open up college saving accounts, we matched dollar for dollar up to $250 of what they saved.”
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