First Alfond Grant Recipients Start Spending $500 Awards on College
Nearly 185,000 Maine children have received the grants, which total more than $800 million including family contributions and interest.
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The first group of Maine children to receive a $500 Alfond Grant at birth is now drawing on the money for college, 18 years after the program began, the Bangor Daily News reported on October 13, 2026.
Colleen Quint of the Harold Alfond Scholarship Foundation said 650 children received the grant in the program's first year, and 75 of those accounts have already been spent on higher education. Many of the first-year recipients were born later in 2008 and have not yet finished high school, she said.
The original $500 investment is now worth roughly $2,400, according to Quint. Families that added their own contributions have larger balances.
Nearly 185,000 children have received Alfond grants, with the combined total topping $800 million through the foundation's initial investment, family contributions and accrued interest, Quint said.
She said the program was designed to push families to start saving for higher education early. "Any dollar you have saved is $1 you don't need to borrow," Quint said, adding that invested money has historically grown over time.
Quint said she expects more students to tap the grants as they enroll in college in coming semesters.
This story was first reported by Bangor Daily News.
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