Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion

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  1. Toward healthy balance sheets: Are savings accounts a gateway to young adults' asset diversification and accumulation

    Understanding the balance sheets of today’s young adults—particularly the factors that set them on a path to financial security through asset diversification and accumulation—lends some insight into the balance sheets they will have when they are older. This study uses panel data from the Census Bureau’s 1996 Survey of Income and Program Participation to investigate the acquisition of a savings account as a gateway to asset diversification and accumulation for young adults. Two avenues were considered: The first emphasized ownership of a diverse portfolio of financial products, and the second emphasized the accumulated value of liquid assets. Almost half of the surveyed young adults owned a savings account (43 percent) and approximately 3 percent acquired a savings account over the course of the panel. (Older, nonwhite, or unemployed participants were significantly less likely to acquire an account.) Those who owned or acquired a savings account also had more diverse asset portfolios. Evidence suggests that young adults who acquire a savings account and diversify their asset portfolios may also accumulate more liquid assets over time, which can be leveraged in the future to strengthen their balance sheets.

    Citation

    Friedline, T., Johnson, P., & Hughes, R. (2014). Toward healthy balance sheets: Are savings accounts a gateway to young adults' asset diversification and accumulation? Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 96(4), 359-389.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri, Johnson, Paul, Hughes, Robert

    Financial Inclusion Journal Article Year 2014

  2. Unequal Outcomes: Student Loan Effects on Young Adults' Net Worth Accumulation

    Most people do not dream of going to college and becoming rich; that is, higher education is, for most, a path to the American Dream of middle-class financial security and upward mobility, not a perceived ticket to great riches. Generally, when people dream of being rich, they think of being a professional athlete, an actor, a singer, or entrepreneur, or winning the lottery. People may dream of getting rich, but it is not this illusion of quick fortune that animates individual actions nor characterizes the American ideal. Instead, Americans expect and work toward the opportunity to become middle-class through education, and it is this promise that underscores our vision of ourselves and our presumed ‘contract’ with the institutions that govern U.S. society. In recognition of the role that educational attainment plays in opening the door to this archetypal middle-class ideal, U.S. policy decided some time ago that children’s work would be school work. Children and their parents believe that the reward for innate intellectual ability and expended academic effort will be a chance to reach, not ease and opulence, but security and upward progress. U.S. policy affirms that education is the primary path for achieving the American Dream. Therefore, quick climbs from rags to riches are presumed to be quixotic, fleeting, and not necessarily even desirable. In contrast, the denial of a fair shot to enter and stay in the middle class through education imperils the foundation on which our collective identity rests and threatens to rewrite the American narrative of ‘success’ through effort and ability, mediated through attainment of education.

    Related items: Briefs

    Student Loan Debt Threatens Household Balance Sheets Status Quo: Divergent Financial Aid Systems Yield Disparate Outcomes High-Dollar Student Debt May Compromise Educational Outcomes Before College: Building Expectations and Facilitating Achievement Executive Summary

    Student Loans are Widening The Wealth Gap: Time to Focus on Equity The Student Loan Problem in America: It is Not Enough to Say, “Students Will Eventually Recover” Infographics

    Today: Two Paths To Higher Ed Student Loan Debt: Consequences Tomorrow . . . And For Years to Come Reports

    Student Loans are Widening The Wealth Gap: Time to Focus on Equity The Student Loan Problem in America: It is Not Enough to Say, “Students Will Eventually Recover”

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    Citation

    Elliott, W., Lewis, M., Johnson, P. (2014). Unequal outcomes: Student loan effects on young adults’ net worth accumulation. Lawrence, KS: Assets and Education Initiative (AEDI).

    Authors

    Elliott III, William, Lewis, Melinda

    College Debt Report Year 2014

  3. Young people are the front lines of financial inclusion: A review of 45 years of research

    Amidst concerns about percentages of households that remain unbanked or underbanked, policy endeavors have emerged to promote financial inclusion by making financial products such as savings accounts readily available. While these endeavors have primarily concentrated on households, young people may be the front lines of financial inclusion because they may be more likely to be banked in young adulthood and beyond when they start off with savings accounts earlier in life. This article addresses young people's financial inclusion by comprehensively reviewing 60 research studies on young people's savings, discussing the role of the family in young people's financial inclusion, discussing financial inclusion from an institutional perspective, presenting policy implications, and identifying gaps in knowledge and opportunities for research. Policies that open savings accounts for young people early in life may be a promising strategy for extending financial inclusion and preventing unbanked or underbanked status later in life.

    Citation

    Friedline, T., & Rauktis, M. (2014). Young people are the front lines of financial inclusion: A review of 45 years of research. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 48(3), 535-602.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri, Rauktis, Mary

    Financial Inclusion Journal Article Year 2014

  4. Accounts, assets, expectations, and achievements: How Child Development Accounts may increase college success

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    Citation

    Beverly, S. G., Elliott, W., & Sherraden, M. (2013). Accounts, assets, expectations, and achievements: How Child Development Accounts may increase college success (CSD Perspective 13-27). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.

    Authors

    Beverly, Sondra G., Sherraden, Michael

    Children's Savings Account Perspective Year 2013

  5. Accumulating assets, debts in young adulthood: Children as potential future investors

    Child Development Accounts (CDA) aim to open savings accounts in childhood as a way to lay a foundation for building assets in young adulthood and beyond. Mainstream banks may be key partners in opening the accounts in which children can build assets. While children may have limited savings to invest initially, they may increasingly invest over time by accumulating assets and debts through mainstream banks. Mainstream banks may benefit from children's increasing investments. This paper uses propensity score weighted, longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its supplements to examine savings, assets, debt, and net worth accumulation of young adults and whether or not they accumulate more when they have savings accounts as children. Young adults accumulate a median of $1000 in savings accounts, $4600 in total assets, $965 in debt (excluding student loans), and $4000 in net worth (excluding student loans). Young adults accumulate more savings and total assets when they have savings accounts as children. They accumulate less debt and more net worth when their households accumulate high net worth.

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    Citation

    Friedline, T., & Song, H. (2013). Accumulating assets, debts in young adulthood: Children as potential future investors. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(9), 1486–1502.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri, Song, Hyun-a

    Children's Savings Account / Financial Inclusion Journal Article Year 2013

  6. Are Student Loans are Widening the Wealth Gap: Time to Focus on Equity

    According to Dr. Thomas Shapiro, the American dream “is the promise that those who work equally hard will reap roughly equal rewards” (Shapiro, 2004, p. 87). Higher education is widely regarded as a vehicle for sustaining this dream. This belief in the potential of education to act as an equalizer is supported by research, which consistently shows that a person who attains a four-year college degree earns more than a person who does not attain a four-year degree. Indeed, there is considerable evidence that educational achievement is the primary way that Americans born in poverty may leave it. Stories of those who escape poverty through education serve to support a reassuring narrative: providing access to higher education is all that is needed to keep the American dream vibrant.

    There have always been holes in this vision of American success, but today more than ever, higher education’s role as a force for equity has deteriorated, such that college may serve more to perpetuate the status quo than to create ladders of opportunity. Tracing and naming the factors that contribute to the erosion of higher education’s equalizing role is an essential step in reinvigorating the American dream. Uncovering those factors begins with an honest conversation about student debt.

    Related items: Briefs

    Student Loan Debt Threatens Household Balance Sheets Status Quo: Divergent Financial Aid Systems Yield Disparate Outcomes High-Dollar Student Debt May Compromise Educational Outcomes Before College: Building Expectations and Facilitating Achievement Executive Summary

    The Student Loan Problem in America: It is Not Enough to Say, “Students Will Eventually Recover” Infographics

    Today: Two Paths To Higher Ed Student Loan Debt: Consequences Tomorrow . . . And For Years to Come Reports

    Student Loans are Widening The Wealth Gap: Time to Focus on Equity The Student Loan Problem in America: It is Not Enough to Say, “Students Will Eventually Recover” Unequal Outcomes: Student Loan Effects on Young Adults’ Net Worth Accumulation

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    Authors

    Elliott III, William, Lewis, Melinda

    College Debt Executive Summary Year 2013

  7. As I see it – Declaring a new war on poverty

    Citation

    Elliott, W. (November, 2013). Op-Ed. As I see it – Declaring a new war on poverty. Kansas City Star/joco 913.

    Authors

    Elliott III, William

    Wealth Transfer Op-Ed Year 2013

  8. Assets and educational achievement: Theory and evidence

    This special issue of Economics of Education Review explores the role of savings and asset holding in post-secondary educational achievement. Most college success research has focused on income rather than assets as a predictor, and most college financing policy has focused on tuition support and educational debt, rather than asset accumulation. Nevertheless, there is compelling evidence that household asset holdings, especially savings for education, may have a pronounced positive influence, independent from income, in post-secondary educational success. Moreover, the fundamental reality is that savings plays a role, even though sometimes small, in college financing for most households. For these empirical and practical reasons, it may be important to pay greater attention to savings and asset holding for education in the future than we have in the past. The articles in this volume contribute empirical evidence, theoretical understanding, and potential policy directions regarding saving, asset holding, and educational achievement.

    Authors

    Sherraden, Michael

    Children's Savings Account Journal Article Year 2013

  9. Before College: Building Expectations and Facilitating Achievement

    By giving students and families a clear strategy for how to overcome cost barriers, college savings increase the likelihood of enrollment. The prospect of significant borrowing, on the other hand, does little to orient students towards college as a likely part of their futures.

    Even small levels of savings make enrollment more likely. Specifically, 45% of low or moderate-income students with no account, 71% with more than $1 of school savings, and 72% of students with school savings of $500+ enroll in college.

    On the longer-term challenge of equipping students to succeed, CSAs also show promise, largely through reinforcing a college-saver identity (expects to graduate and sees savings as a strategy for paying for college) that increases engagement and builds expectations.

    Conversely, going through school without assets can compromise achievement. Spells of asset poverty prior to age 11 have a particularly negative effect on academic achievement.

    Related items: Briefs

    Student Loan Debt Threatens Household Balance Sheets Status Quo: Divergent Financial Aid Systems Yield Disparate Outcomes High-Dollar Student Debt May Compromise Educational Outcomes Executive Summary

    Student Loans are Widening The Wealth Gap: Time to Focus on Equity The Student Loan Problem in America: It is Not Enough to Say, “Students Will Eventually Recover” Infographics

    Today: Two Paths To Higher Ed Student Loan Debt: Consequences Tomorrow . . . And For Years to Come Reports

    Student Loans are Widening The Wealth Gap: Time to Focus on Equity The Student Loan Problem in America: It is Not Enough to Say, “Students Will Eventually Recover” Unequal Outcomes: Student Loan Effects on Young Adults’ Net Worth Accumulation

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    Authors

    Elliott III, William, Lewis, Melinda

    College Debt Brief Year 2013

  10. Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and The Future of Higher Education

    American society reflects considerable class immobility, much of which is due to the wide gap in college completion rates between advantaged and disadvantaged groups of students. In the introduction we discuss the factors that cause unequal college completion rates, introduce assets as an explanation stratification scholars often ignore, and then outline the remainder of this report.

    Related items: Briefs

    From a Debt-Dependent to an Asset-Based Financial Aid Model Institutional Facilitation and CSA Effects CSAs As An Early Commitment Financial Aid Strategy From Disadvantaged Student to College Graduates: The Role of CSAs How CSAs Facilitate Saving and Asset Accumulation Designing for Success Investing In Our Future Children’s Savings Accounts and a 21st Century Financial Aid System Executive Summary

    Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and The Future of Higher Education Infographics

    College Savings Accounts: More Degrees, Less Debt The Role of Institutional Facilitation in Academic Success

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    Authors

    AEDI

    Children's Savings Account Executive Summary Year 2013

  11. Building expectations, delivering results: Asset-based financial aid and the future of higher education

    The price of higher education has increased dramatically in recent decades as higher education financing has shifted from a collectively funded public good to reliance on individual and family contributions. This cost burden has implications for education’s ability to serve as an equalizing force in the U.S., but asset-based financial aid models may have the potential to transform our financial aid system. While high student loan debt may hinder college completion and even serve as a deterrent to enrollment among some disadvantaged students, promoting asset development may reduce the need for loans and improve educational outcomes. Policies that combine smaller student loans with asset-based approaches could create a financial-aid model that builds college readiness among low-income students, improves their access to college, and increases their chances of success in higher education and of financial security post-graduation.

    Related items: Briefs

    Institutional Facilitation and CSA Effects CSAs As An Early Commitment Financial Aid Strategy From Disadvantaged Student to College Graduates: The Role of CSAs How CSAs Facilitate Saving and Asset Accumulation Designing for Success Investing In Our Future Children’s Savings Accounts and a 21st Century Financial Aid System Executive Summary

    Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and The Future of Higher Education Infographics

    College Savings Accounts: More Degrees, Less Debt The Role of Institutional Facilitation in Academic Success Reports

    Examining The Canadian Education Savings Program and Its Implications for U.S. Child Savings Accounts (CSA) Policy

    Citation

    Elliott, William (Ed.), (2013). Building expectations, delivering results: Asset-based financial aid and the future of higher education. In Biannual report on the assets and education field. Lawrence, KS: Assets and Education Initiative (AEDI).

    Authors

    Elliott III, William

    Children's Savings Account Brief Year 2013

  12. Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and The Future of Higher Education

    The Biannual Report on the Assets and Education Field, Building Expectations, Delivering Results, brings together a wide body of research to demonstrate the potential that CSAs have for transforming the way that students pay for, and prepare for, college. By changing the timing of aid delivery and strengthening household finances in the years leading up to college, an asset-based financial aid system need not cost more than our current system, either. This transformation could, in turn, restore the promise of economic mobility for a generation of talented but disadvantaged young people.

    From a Debt-Dependent to an Asset-Based Financial Aid Model Institutional Facilitation and CSA Effects CSAs As An Early Commitment Financial Aid Strategy From Disadvantaged Student to College Graduates: The Role of CSAs How CSAs Facilitate Saving and Asset Accumulation Designing for Success Investing In Our Future Children’s Savings Accounts and a 21st Century Financial Aid System ​Infographics

    College Savings Accounts: More Degrees, Less Debt The Role of Institutional Facilitation in Academic Success Reports

    Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and The Future of Higher Education

    Citation

    Assets and Education Initiative. (2013). Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and the Future of Higher Education. In W. Elliott (Ed.), Biannual report on the assets and education field. Lawrence, KS: Assets and Education Initiative (AEDI).

    Authors

    Rauscher, Emily

    Children's Savings Account Report Year 2013

  13. Can CSAs help resolve the expectation-attainment paradox? Developing a college-saver identity in children

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    Citation

    Elliott, W. (2013). Can CSAs help resolve the expectation-attainment paradox? Developing a college-saver identity in children (CSD Fact Sheet 13-30). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.

    Authors

    Elliott III, William

    Children's Savings Account Fact Sheet Year 2013

  14. Children as potential future investors: Accumulating assets, accumulating debts in young adulthood

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    Citation

    Friedline, T., & Song, H. (2013). Children as potential future investors: Accumulating assets, accumulating debts in young adulthood (Report II of III). Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, Assets & Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri, Song, Hyun-a

    Children's Savings Account Report Year 2013

  15. Children as potential future investors: Accumulating assets, accumulating debts in young adulthood

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    Citation

    Friedline, T., & Song, H. (2013). Children as potential future investors: Accumulating assets, accumulating debts in young adulthood (Report II of III). Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, Assets & Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri, Song, Hyun-a

    Financial Inclusion Report Year 2013

  16. Children as potential future investors: Connections with banking institutions and diverse asset portfolios in young adulthood

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    Citation

    Friedline, T., & Elliott, W. (2013). Children as potential future investors: Connections with banking institutions and diverse asset portfolios in young adulthood (Report I of III). Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, Assets & Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri

    Children's Savings Account Report Year 2013

  17. Children as potential future investors: Connections with banking institutions and diverse asset portfolios in young adulthood

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    Citation

    Friedline, T., & Elliott, W. (2013). Children as potential future investors: Connections with banking institutions and diverse asset portfolios in young adulthood (Report I of III). Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, Assets & Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri

    Financial Inclusion Report Year 2013

  18. Children as potential future investors: Do mainstream banks augment children's capacity to save

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    Citation

    Friedline, T. (2013). Children as potential future investors: Do mainstream banks augment children's capacity to save? (Report III of III). Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, Assets & Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri

    Children's Savings Account Report Year 2013

  19. Children as potential future investors: Do mainstream banks augment children's capacity to save

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    Citation

    Friedline, T. (2013). Children as potential future investors: Do mainstream banks augment children's capacity to save? (Report III of III). Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, Assets & Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri

    Financial Inclusion Report Year 2013

  20. Children’s Savings Accounts and a 21st Century Financial Aid System (Chapter 6 – Brief 3)

    Successfully advancing CSA policy will require analyzing the political context so that proposals can take advantage of windows of opportunity, framing CSAs as congruent with prevailing values, and crafting CSAs such that they are positioned as effective solutions to important policy problems. To this end, research documenting the concerning effects of the overreliance of student debt as a mechanism through which to finance college, as well as the potential of asset based approaches to potentially reduce high-dollar debt and improve educational outcomes, is perhaps one of the most significant developments towards national CSA policy. CSAs can be clearly understood to have potential to solve one of our most pressing problems: how to bring college affordability to enough prepared students to increase educational attainment without compromising future economic security—for the nation or for individual students. This framing of CSAs has practical fiscal implications, too; if asset-based approaches to financing higher education are seen as ways to reduce dependence on debt-heavy ones, then the ‘net cost’ might be understood to be smaller, particularly in light of the potentially negative long-term financial effects of outstanding student loans.

    Related items: Briefs:

    From a Debt-Dependent to an Asset-Based Financial Aid Model Institutional Facilitation and CSA Effects CSAs As An Early Commitment Financial Aid Strategy From Disadvantaged Student to College Graduates: The Role of CSAs How CSAs Facilitate Saving and Asset Accumulation Designing for Success Investing In Our Future Executive Summary

    Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and The Future of Higher Education Infographics

    College Savings Accounts: More Degrees, Less Debt The Role of Institutional Facilitation in Academic Success Reports

    Examining The Canadian Education Savings Program and Its Implications for U.S. Child Savings Accounts (CSA) Policy

    Citation

    Lewis, M., Elliott, W., Cramer, R. and Black, R. (2013). Children’s Savings Accounts and a 21st Century Financial Aid System (Chapter 6 – Brief 3). In W. Elliott (Ed.), Giving children a financial stake in college: Are CSAs a way to help maximize financial aid dollars? (Biannual Report on the Assets and Education Field). Lawrence, KS: Assets and Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Lewis, Melinda, Cramer, Reid, Black, Rachel

    Children's Savings Account Brief Year 2013

  21. Connections with banking institutions and diverse asset portfolios in young adulthood: Children as potential future investors

    A central hypothesis of Child Development Accounts (CDA) suggests that savings accounts in childhood lay a foundation for connecting to mainstream banking institutions and diversifying asset portfolios in young adulthood and beyond. While children may have limited savings to invest initially, they are financial actors who may increasingly invest money into different types of savings products over time. This paper uses propensity score weighted, longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its supplements to examine the types of financial and nonfinancial assets owned by young adults and whether or not they are more likely to own these assets when they have savings accounts as children. The most commonly owned assets in young adulthood included savings accounts (89%), vehicles (54%) and credit cards (51%). Smaller percentages owned stocks (9%), bonds (6%), and homes (8%). On average, young adults owned two to three different assets. Having savings accounts in childhood was associated with being two times more likely to own savings accounts, two times more likely to own credit cards, and four times more likely to own stocks in young adulthood, compared to not having savings accounts in childhood. Young adults' ownership of more total financial assets was also associated with having savings accounts in childhood. Findings provide some supporting evidence of demand for children's savings accounts. Policy endeavors that remove barriers to account ownership may be advantageous for children and mainstream banks.

    Citation

    Friedline, T., & Elliott, W. (2013). Connections with banking institutions and diverse asset portfolios in young adulthood: Children as potential future investors. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(6), 994-1006.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri, Elliott III, William

    Children's Savings Account / Financial Inclusion Journal Article Year 2013

  22. CSAs as an early commitment financial aid strategy (Chapter 3 - Brief)

    When thinking about the role CSAs may play in increasing college enrollment and completion, we need a broader frame than just helping children pay for college. Emerging research linking assets with academic achievement suggests that CSAs may be a valuable tool for addressing long-term barriers to closing the attainment gap—a potentially greater challenge in improving outcomes and equity. As early commitment financial aid strategies, CSAs may help to shape children’s college expectations, thereby impacting parents’ investments in their children’s education and potentially mitigating some of the effects of poverty on educational attainment. The potential for cumulative effects starting in early childhood and CSAs’ potential impact on post-college outcomes bolster the argument for including CSAs in the financial aid system and considering the role of timing in influencing financial aid efficacy.

    Related items: Briefs:

    From a Debt-Dependent to an Asset-Based Financial Aid Model Institutional Facilitation and CSA Effects From Disadvantaged Student to College Graduates: The Role of CSAs How CSAs Facilitate Saving and Asset Accumulation Designing for Success Investing In Our Future Children’s Savings Accounts and a 21st Century Financial Aid System Executive Summary

    Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and The Future of Higher Education Infographics

    College Savings Accounts: More Degrees, Less Debt The Role of Institutional Facilitation in Academic Success Reports

    Examining The Canadian Education Savings Program and Its Implications for U.S. Child Savings Accounts (CSA) Policy

    Read Publication

    Citation

    Elliott, W. with Kelchen, R. (2013). CSAs as an early commitment financial aid strategy (Chapter 3 - Brief). In W. Elliott (Ed.), Giving children a financial stake in college: Are CSAs a way to help maximize financial aid dollars? (Biannual Report on the Assets and Education Field). Lawrence, KS: Assets and Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Kelchen, Robert

    Children's Savings Account Brief Year 2013

  23. Designated education accounts can lead students to college

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    Citation

    Friedline, T. (2013, January 8). Designated education accounts can lead students to college. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

    Authors

    Friedline, Terri

    Children's Savings Account Op-Ed Year 2013

  24. Designing CSAs: The Independent Effects of Accounts in Children’s Names

    In the last few decades, children's savings accounts (CSAs) have emerged as a strategy for preparing children for their educational and financial futures, especially for those from low- to moderate-income households. This means a savings account is opened early in life and any accumulated savings can be used toward children's future expenses like college tuition or small business entrepreneurship. One question regarding CSA design is whether ownership over accounts should reside with children or parents. In other words, do children benefit educationally and financially when CSAs are in their names, or is it sufficient for parents to save on their children's behalf? This brief presents findings of the effects on children's financial futures when savings accounts are opened in their names. Findings validate the design of many existing CSAs and point to the need to reexamine policies that may discourage families from establishing accounts in children’s names.

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    Citation

    AEDI (2013). Designing CSAs: The independent effects of accounts in children’s names. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, Assets and Education Initiative.

    Authors

    AEDI

    Children's Savings Account Brief Year 2013

  25. Designing for success: Children’s savings account policy features to drive educational outcomes (Chapter 6 – Brief 1)

    CSAs should include every child of a given age—ideally, at birth, although there are certainly reasons to tie additional incentives to accomplishment of specific academic or life milestones. Including everyone in CSAs underscores the stake we all have in each other’s prosperity, which is particularly true when it comes to global competitiveness and the educational outcomes CSAs can deliver. Universality also means inclusiveness, or meaningful access to asset accumulation by low-income individuals who otherwise may not have truly equitable opportunities.1 This speaks to the need for features such as automatic enrollment (opt-out), concerted outreach and education strategies, and special incentives for lower-income households, in order to avoid a ‘universal’ CDA policy turning into another asset development investment that disproportionately benefits those already advantaged.

    Related items: Briefs:

    From a Debt-Dependent to an Asset-Based Financial Aid Model Institutional Facilitation and CSA Effects CSAs As An Early Commitment Financial Aid Strategy From Disadvantaged Student to College Graduates: The Role of CSAs How CSAs Facilitate Saving and Asset Accumulation Investing In Our Future Children’s Savings Accounts and a 21st Century Financial Aid System Executive Summary

    Building Expectations, Delivering Results: Asset-Based Financial Aid and The Future of Higher Education Infographics

    College Savings Accounts: More Degrees, Less Debt The Role of Institutional Facilitation in Academic Success Reports

    Examining The Canadian Education Savings Program and Its Implications for U.S. Child Savings Accounts (CSA) Policy

    Read Publication

    Citation

    Lewis, M., Elliott, W., Cramer, R. and Black, R. (2013). Designing for success: Children’s savings account policy features to drive educational outcomes (Chapter 6 – Brief 1). In W. Elliott (Ed.), Giving children a financial stake in college: Are CSAs a way to help maximize financial aid dollars? (Biannual Report on the Assets and Education Field). Lawrence, KS: Assets and Education Initiative.

    Authors

    Lewis, Melinda, Cramer, Reid, Black, Rachel

    Children's Savings Account Brief Year 2013