In San Francisco, Saving for College at Kindergarten Entry

Today the City of San Francisco announced the start of a new low-cost program that offers both financial hope for students and a model for other municipalities, states, and the federal government to impact long-term issues of college affordability, access, and completion.

The Kindergarten-to-College (K2C) program will provide a system of universal college savings accounts to every kindergartener entering the city’s public schools. This year, K2C (total cost: $250,000) will cover approximately 25 percent of the city’s students, focused on low-income neighborhoods, with citywide enrollment expected by the third year of the program. The city will automatically enroll each student and provide an initial deposit of $50, with an additional $50 for students in the federal government’s free or reduced-price lunch program.

Proponents of better mathematics instruction in the early years (which Early Ed Watch has pushed for as well) will be happy to hear that the program also includes financial education in the math curriculum in every grade.

For more, see Mark Huelsman’s post on Higher Ed Watch and the policy work of New America’s California Assets Building Program.