MONEY MANAGEMENT: A Gift from Savers Past

Schoolchildren in New York City are about to learn a happy lesson about thrift. Their benefactors are the students of a half-century ago who tucked away small change in savings accounts and then forgot about them. Their spare pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters have grown into a trust fund containing $728,533.35.

The buried treasure dates from the Great Depression and World War II, when the schools urged children to open accounts. Many did not claim their savings when they graduated, and by 1950 the city’s public schools had amassed more than $90,000. Later the dormant savings were put in a high-yield trust fund but never tapped. Last week the state assembly passed a bill that will allow the city to use the fund’s annual interest of up to $40,000 for college scholarships.