Back to School, Back to Saving

The Inclusive Economy Blog

This article originally appeared on the 1:1 Fund blog.

In the past few weeks, millions of kids have folded up their beach towels, brushed the sand out of their hair and headed back to school. Some of them are just starting their first days of kindergarten. Some of them are high school seniors, looking forward to crossing the graduation stage and setting off on their own in just a few short months. But all of them can benefit from college savings.

Why? Most obviously, students with some savings set aside for college are less likely to accrue a crippling student debt burden. This means that, after they graduate, these students will likely start out on a more secure economic footing. Interestingly, although student loans are intended to help students get a college degree, only 35% of students with over $20,000 in loans actually graduate from college, compared with 60% of students with less than $10,000 in loans. So not only does debt put students at a financial disadvantage after college, but it may hurt their chances of completing a degree at all.

But college savings doesn’t just benefit students at age 18 when they finally start making tuition payments. Research shows that low-income children with college savings do better academically and are significantly more likely to expect to go on to college than children without savings. For example, among high school students who expect to go to college, those with a college savings account are four times more likely to actually attend than those without an account. This suggests that when kids know there is money in the bank set aside for their education, they believe that they really can go to college and are more motivated to study hard to make their college dreams a reality.

At the 1:1 Fund, we want to help make those college dreams a reality, too. That is why we work with Children’s Savings Account (CSA) programs around the country to provide the matching funds that encourage low-income students and their families to keep saving.

This week, we are teaming up with three of our partners in San Francisco, St. Louis and Jackson, Mississippi to raise matching funds for student savers and keep their nest eggs growing.

Now through Saturday, the 1:1 Fund will provide a dollar-for-dollar match of donations of up to $500 to each of these three CSA programs. Give this week and we will double your donation, allowing even more children to benefit from the power of savings.

Also, if you have never donated, now is your chance! In order to get more people involved in the growing CSA movement, the 1:1 Fund is offering a $500 bonus for each partner that gains at least 25 first-time donors this week.

Whether your gift encourages a six-year-old in St. Louis, a kindergartener in San Francisco or a fourth grader in Mississippi, a donation to a 1:1 Fund partner this week goes even further. Help a child start the school year off right by donating today.