Asset Building Financial Inclusion Report

Automatic Deposits for All at Birth: Maine’s Harold Alfond College Challenge

The first statewide Child Development Account (CDA) in the United States announced a major change in strategy to automatically enroll all newborns. Evidence from CDA research has contributed to the decision by the College Challenge to remove its original opt-in requirement—in which parents must enroll their newborns in the state’s 529 college savings plan to receive a $500 grant—in favor of universal enrollment—in which every child is enrolled automatically at birth with a $500 grant.

Project: College Success

Citation

Clancy, M., & Sherraden, M. (2014). Automatic deposits for all at birth: Maine’s Harold Alfond College Challenge (CSD Policy Report No. 14-05). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/K7X63MGJ