Special Announcement: ED to Fund College Accounts for Low-Income Kids

The Education Department just announced a new College Savings Account Research Demonstration Project, which will be implemented within the GEAR UP Program. The demonstration will test the effectiveness of pairing federally-supported college savings accounts with GEAR UP activities against just GEAR UP activities. They will initially allocate $8.7 million worth of funds that are already appropriated to support the demonstration.

The project will use a rigorous, randomized control design and will be on a large scale, offering accounts to 10,000 students and comparing them with a control group of another 10,000 students in the GEAR UP program who will not be given access to accounts.

We’re excited to host an event this afternoon where Under Secretary Martha Kanter and Congressman Chaka Fattah will describe the demonstration and its links to GEAR UP. You are welcome to join us this afternoon in person, watch it live on our webcast, or view it at a more convenient time. The announcement will be followed by a panel discussion, featuring Willie Elliott III, whose research was particularly influential with federal policymakers.

Much more to come on this, but needless to say this is an exciting step for ED to take and proud of the role we were able to play in providing consultation to ED as they designed the program. We are looking forward to monitoring and critiquing this project as it continues to be developed and is implemented.