The Assets Effect
Another fantastic article from Dana Goldstein, this one about the “assets effect”:
“William Elliott, a professor at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, tests theories about what could make it more likely that kids coming up the hard way will succeed. One finding he and other academic researchers have confirmed may surprise you. When kids have even a small savings account in their name, it increases the chance they will persevere and do what it takes to get through college.
Among kids who expect to graduate from college, the income of their parents makes little difference in the chances that they will actually enroll. But whether or not they have a savings account in their own name makes an enormous difference. Those who have an account are about seven times more likely to attend college than similar youth who did not have an account. A savings account also increases the chance that they will persevere and do what it takes to get through college. Those with a savings account opened for them as children are about twice as likely as their peers without savings to have graduated or to be on course to graduate from a two- or four-year college by age twenty-three.”
I urge you to read more, here, and let me know what you think about this innovative approach to motivating kids to attend and graduate college.