LANSING, Mich — Two Lansing School District juniors are part of something historic: the first class to reach full funding through the Lansing Save program, a 13-year community investment that's now paying dividends.
For Xavier McKissic and Nautikah Garcia-Sams, college isn't just a dream anymore. It's a funded reality.
- The Class of 2027 has become fully funded with $500 per student, 730 students total, making Lansing only the second program nationwide to reach distribution.
- Students like Nautikah Garcia-Sams have added their own money to accounts, bringing some totals about $1,200 with 5% APR growth.
- A recent student-led deposit event at Eastern High School saw 65 students invest in their own futures, generating $1,625 in one day.
WATCH: LANSING SAVE MAKES HISTORY AS CLASS OF 2027 PREPARES TO SEE COLLEGE FUNDING
Tiffany Lemieux-McKissic, Director of the Office of Financial Empowerment with the City of Lansing, has watched this program grow from an idea to reality.
Lansing SAVE, which stands for Student Accounts Valuing Education, is a partnership between the City of Lansing, Lansing School District, MSU Federal Credit Union and the Lansing Promise.
Every student from kindergarten through 11th grade has a designated college savings account with about 16,000 accounts opened since the program began.
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A 2024 Gallup-Lumina Foundation study found that nearly 60% of students surveyed said they've considered leaving school due to economic hardship.
But McKissic says belief is just as crucial as financial relief.
"We're telling the kids every time we talk to them that their community is behind them, that we believe in them, that their dreams are possible", Lemieux-McKissic said. "It instills a sense of future self, a future self-identity."
For Nautikah Garcia-Sams, a junior at Eastern High School, those dreams are crystal clear. She wants to become a pediatric radiology technician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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"The role is to not only scan and take MRIs, see what's going on with the patient, in this case the child, but to also ease their anxiety and soothe them from any fear," Garcia-Sams said.
Garcia-Sam's inspiration comes from a childhood experience during her own CT scan, when a pediatric radiology technician helped calm her fears.
"I have a very vivid memory of being very calm, and [them] telling me to just breathe in and breathe out, and I really carried that moment with me," she said.
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Xavier McKissic, a junior at Everett High School with a 4.1 GPA, is interested in international relations or business. McKissic is keeping his options open financially.
"My philosophy is that I think that college is very useful, but we shouldn't have to pay for it," McKissic said. "So I will go wherever has the best deal, the best offer for me."
Both students have taken active roles in promoting the program as Bold Lansing Youth Program interns at their schools.
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The program runs on community support. Kathy Tobe, a Lansing resident of 40 years, recently contributed $5,000.
Tobe discovered the program at a city showcase and was drawn to its student-focused mission.
"I was blessed with the educational opportunities throughout my lifetime. And this way, I can pay it forward," Tobe said. "It may be the difference between them going for education or not. And I think education is the number one thing for success."
The funding comes from multiple sources: individual donors, student and family contributions, city fundraising, and philanthropic partners. MSUFCU provides graduation bonuses and houses the accounts.
Garcia-Sams recently organized a deposit event at Eastern High School that generated remarkable results. Sixty-five students made deposits, earning $25 bonuses for contributing even a penny.
"That just means so much to me that we can do that in just one event," Garcia-Sams said.
McKissic, who created the youth engagement program at his school nearly two years ago, said seeing students invest in themselves validates their work.
"Getting a tangible result like that is why it makes all of the hard times worth it," McKissic said.
The students see their accounts as crucial safety nets for unexpected college expenses or financial emergencies.
As the Class of 2027 prepares to graduate, both student interns are focused on sustainability.
They plan to pass leadership roles to underclassmen, with positions funded by the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM) at all three Lansing high schools.
"We're making history directly and we'll be able to pass on our intern role, the baton, on to someone else who's also coming up once we graduate," Garcia-Sams said.
McKissic has already spoken at national conferences, sharing Lansing's model with other communities.
"In that sense, the Bold Lansing Youth Program is on a national stage," he said. "This opportunity for me personally has been such a gift and has been really eye-opening and makes me love the community that I live in."
The program is part of Bold Lansing, a broader continuum that includes the Lansing Promise (free college), CapCan (FAFSA support), and free financial counseling.
"We tell our kids that your 18th birthday present from the city is to sit down with our financial counselors," Lemieux-McKissic said. "It's a whole economic mobility strategy to support our youth in Lansing."
For current Lansing School District students the message is clear: the support is already there.
"If you're currently enrolled in the Lansing School District, you have an account. It's a CSA opt-out. So you are included in everything that we're saying," Garcia-Sams said.
Lemieux-McKissic says the school district is the second program in the nation, along with San Francisco, to reach fund distribution.
The program still needs funding for the Class of 2028 and beyond, but Lemieux-McKissic is confident in the community's continued support.
"We want to fund this forever," she said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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