About 250 parents join Cuyahoga County college savings plan

CLEVELAND (AP) — An official in Cuyahoga County says about 250 parents of kindergartners have registered for a college savings account program that started with the county contributing $100 for each child.

The fund idea was started earlier this year by county executive and candidate for governor Ed FitzGerald.

Ken Surratt, a special assistant to FitzGerald, tells the Northeast Ohio Media Group that 27 of the savings account have received money on top of the $100 in taxpayers’ money used to start each of them.

Voters approved a county charter in 2009 that called for establishing a countywide education fund.

FitzGerald says too few lower- and middle-class families are saving for college, and the program aims to create a local culture that encourages more saving.