About the Program

The Nevada College Kick Start Program awards every Nevada public school kindergartener with a free $50 scholarship. The program helps Nevada’s kindergarteners begin their path to college and assists Nevada families with saving for post-secondary educational expenses. The Kick Start scholarship is provided at no cost to eligible Nevada families.

The Nevada College Kick Start Program began in 2013 in 13 of Nevada’s rural counties and expanded statewide in 2014. Today, over 275,000 students have program accounts.

How it Works

Nevada College Kick Start scholarship accounts are created automatically based on information provided by the Nevada Department of Education to the Treasurer’s Office. The information includes the student’s name and school district ID number.

The program uses a portion of program management fees, not taxpayer dollars, to set aside a $50 scholarship for every public-school kindergarten student in Nevada. The funds are held in a master account which is owned by the State Treasurer’s Office. The master account is managed by Ascensus College Savings, the program manager for the College Savings Plans of Nevada.

Please note, because scholarships are held in the master account, families must open a separate 529 Account to contribute additional dollars. Kick Start scholarship accounts are not set up to accept any contributions outside of the initial $50 added by the State.

How to Register Your Child’s Account
  1. You will need your child’s Nevada College Kick Start ID to complete the registration process. Click here to look up your child’s Kick Start ID number. If you need assistance finding your child’s Nevada College Kick Start ID, please call (702) 486-4141.
  2. Register your child’s account by clicking the “Register Account” button on our participant portal at www.vistashare.com/p/nv/kickstart. You will be able to choose a portal username and password (your username must be unique to each child and does not need to be your email address). You will use this username and password to log into the portal to view your child’s Nevada College Kick Start account.
  3. Once you have your portal username/password and have logged in, you are done! Congratulations – you have registered your child’s account!
How to Access an Existing Account

Program Information, Forms and Policies