Savings Race 5: Kayleigh Yake

SOUTH CHARLESTON, Ohio (WDTN) - Like many of you, a South Charleston family is struggling to pay for college.  They hope Savings Race 5: College Edition will put them on the right track.

For Kayleigh Yake, the path to college starts here.

Kayleigh would like to go to Wittenberg or Cedarville University to study psychology.  It's already her junior year at Northeastern High School, but her bank account is empty.

She and her family turned to the Savings Race for help.

"I wanted to get better acquainted for the college experience and know how to save up money and get money for college," said Kayleigh.

"Maybe even somebody to say, hey, here's a plan that you guys can work on instead of our family battling over how to spend money," said Angela Yake, Kayleigh's mother.

For years, Kayleigh's parents, Angela and Chris have been focused on feeding mouths.

They have three girls and "Stink Pot" the turtle, but last year, a rude awakening.

Their oldest, Stephanie, didn't have the money needed to attend the school she wanted.

"What we'd like to see for the other two girls is that they know that it's coming and they need to explore those options before it's so close to attending school," said Angela.

Because mom and dad say they aren't in a position to help.

"We have not been able to save anything for college currently because we're trying to get out of debt, so most of our money that comes in goes right back out on the charge card," said Chris Yake, Kayleigh's dad.

The first step is going through the bills and the interest rates.

"Dumping that debt is going to save them a lot in the long run," said Coach Drea.

Coach Drea says a consolidation loan might be the answer, but Angela and Chris hope Kayleigh will be able to save enough money to pay for most of her schooling herself and through the next eight months, they'll be scrimping, saving and looking for creative ways to earn a little extra too.

Five teams are competing for the grand prize of a $10,000 college scholarship.

Watch our updates every Tuesday on 2 NEWS at 5:30.

Savings Race 5: College Edition is a paid partnership with Wright-Patt Credit Union.