Increase the chances of your child attending college by setting up a children savings account

Evidence that establishes a strong relation between succeeding in college and savings account is increasing by the day. Center for Social Development at Washington University’s Brown School conducted three studies, all of which revealed a strong connection between enrolling in college and various other assets.

The director of College Savings Initiative at Center for Social Development, Margaret Clancy says that these studies emphasize the importance of saving for college among Americans with varied income levels. She also said that this is the reason for the inclusion of innovative public policy and various reforms to the 529 plans by College Saving Initiative.  Clancy also went on to say that the goal of College Saving Initiative was to provide students from lower income groups with better access to post secondary education.

In one of the studies that is to be published in the forthcoming edition of Journal of Children and Poverty, researchers from CSD have found out that children who intended to complete the four-year graduation program from college were six times likely to complete it if they have a savings account in their name as compared to students with no account at all.

While announcing the partnership between National Credit Union Association and Federal Deposit Insurance Company to improve college and saving access for students from the lower income groups, United States’ Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, made reference to this study. Another study from CSD that is set to be published in the American Journal for Education has revealed that financial assets among youth acts as a consistent predictor of if they are likely to complete graduation from college.

Clancy said that most of the researches conducted in the past in this field fell short of evaluating the relationship between graduating from college and financial assets. However, the studies being conducted currently are increasing revealing the correlation between liabilities, assets and completing college. She says that there is increasing evidence to show the positive impact of savings on areas other than just the economy.

A similar study conducted by CSD that is set to be published in Children and Youth Services Review has revealed that factors such as family income, IRAs, savings account and CDs, in addition to certain non financial assets, have a bearing on youth completing their four year college program successfully. In simple words, this research has revealed that it is not the family income but the assets that determine the completion of college among youth today.