LOS ANGELES — After a long day in first grade, 7-year-old Kamila looks forward to seeing her mother waiting for dismissal to take her to grab an after-school treat.

Like most kids her age, Kamila has a sweet tooth, but her love of sugar runs deeper than just eating ice cream. When she grows up, she wants to become a baker.

“I want to be a baker because I want to own my own bakery shop,” she said.

This 7-year-old entrepreneur in the making is already planning for her future and knows she’ll have to go to culinary school, which she believes may be pretty expensive.

“I know, it’s probably a ‘ba-zillion’ dollars, but that’s a good thing because I’ve been saving up money,” she said.

Kamila is one of the nearly 35,000 Los Angeles Unified School District student who set up with a children’s savings account.

This year, the Opportunity LA Program, a partnership between LAUSD and the city and county of LA, opened CSAs with Citibank for all of its first grade students district wide. Each student starts off with a $50 seed deposit.

Savings accounts are available to students regardless of their family’s income, background or immigration status.

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
• pre-enrollment enrichment services such as “summer bridge” programs
• 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
• 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.

According to the Education Data Initiative, in 2021, only about 360,000 students in California had college savings accounts — compared to a far smaller state like Virginia, where more than 2 million students are already putting money aside for college.

LAUSD board member Tanya Ortiz-Franklin represents District 7. She explained that, for her students, financial planning is one of the main barriers to accessing a college education.

“I think about the families I represent in South LA, Watts, low-income communities and immigrant communities,” she said.

Data shows kids are more than three times more likely to go to college if they have a savings account, and more than four times more likely to graduate if they have a savings account before they start.

Kamila’s mom, Sandy Lopez, can attest to that. Growing up in South LA, she said her family didn’t teach her much about savings accounts. When it came time for her to go to college, Lopez said her family didn’t have the money to help pay for her education.

“I was on financial aid and it was still a struggle for me,” she said. “I didn’t get to finish college because financially I wasn’t prepared.”

Now, as a mother, it’s important to Lopez to give Kamila the financial advantage she didn’t have.