Tennessee Treasury’s TNStars 529 College Savings Program awards $5,000 in scholarships to five children during College Savings Month

NASHVILLE – State Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr. is pleased to recognize the five winners of the $5,000 in scholarships given away by the TNStars College Savings 529 Program throughout September in celebration of College Savings Month.

TNStars promoted a scholarship giveaway contest in September, encouraging Tennessee residents 21 and older to enter to win a $1,000 scholarship on behalf of a child 10 or younger. TNStars gave away a $1,000 scholarship each week in September, awarding five winners total.

The following $1,000 scholarship winners, who were randomly drawn among 2,774 entrants across the state, were announced weekly on the TNStars Facebook page:

• Aurora Nolan, 10, Jacksboro
• Leighton Lammers, 4, Nashville
• Flynn Johnson McDonald, 7, Nashville
• Hudson Dunham, 4, Memphis
• Jacob Vu, 8, Kingston

"I want to congratulate Aurora, Leighton, Flynn, Hudson, and Jacob, and encourage each of you to use these scholarship funds to pursue your career aspirations,” Treasurer Lillard said. “It's important to start saving early, so that compounding interest works for you rather than against you with student loans, and I hope this scholarship will help you get started down that path.”

All prizes will be deposited into a TNStars scholarship account. These funds can be used for the winning beneficiary’s future higher education expenses, ranging from tuition and housing to books, computers, and more.

The TNStars College Savings 529 Program was created to encourage Tennessee families to save and invest for the future cost of higher education in a tax-advantaged way. TNStars offers high-quality investment options at a low cost to help families put aside money for higher education expenses. Tennesseans can invest directly with the program and funds can be withdrawn tax-free from a TNStars account as long as it is used for qualified higher education expenses. Families can open an account with as little as $25 to start. For more information, visit TNStars.com.