AUGUSTA -- Fourteen thousand babies could be born in Maine in 2009, and each one will be eligible for $500 to begin a college savings account. So will each baby born in Maine thereafter.

Alfond Scholarship Foundation officials Thursday announced they will extend the $500 benefit to every Maine-born baby, a year after the group launched a pilot program at MaineGeneral Medical Center campuses in Augusta and Waterville.

Dozens of babies and their parents crowded the auditorium in the University of Maine at Augusta's Jewett Hall for the program launch. Some parents signed their children up for the benefit as Gov. John Baldacci, mothers and officials from Alfond Scholarship Foundation and MaineGeneral spoke.

Danielle Piecewicz, of Winslow, said she was surprised to find out her twins Emily and Lily were eligible for $500 each.

"I was so shocked," she said. "In my skepticism, I thought, 'What's the catch?'"

Piecewicz said she filled out the paperwork to enroll her daughters while in her hospital bed.

"When they grow up, they're going to be so appreciative of this gift," she said.