This week, the state of Maine became the first in the United States to make college savings for newborns universal and automatic, putting into practice research pioneered by Michael Sherraden and the Brown School’s Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.
A college savings account in a child’s name not only gives parents hope for the future, it also results in improved social-emotional health for their children.
More than 160 people attended “Generation Debt: the Promise, Perils and Future of Student Loans” at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on Monday, Nov. 18. The conference was co-sponsored by the St. Louis Fed and the Center for Social Development in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Brown School alumna Molly Wimonmat Srichamroen has created a first-of-its-kind children’s savings program in her native Thailand, using knowledge she gained at the Center for Social Development. Srichamroen was also a scholar in Washington University’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy.
A special issue of “Economics of Education Review” marks the first comprehensive set of studies that link assets and educational attainment. Research provides evidence that college savings should be included in policies for educational financing.
When every dollar is spent on necessities like diapers, gasoline and utilities, saving for college may be the furthest thing from a new parent’s mind. Mothers participating in a research study, however, suggest that a college savings account with $1,000 makes them feel optimistic about their children’s postsecondary education.
Asset-building scholars, policymakers, and foundations gathered earlier this month in Washington, DC to celebrate the 21st anniversary of “Assets and the Poor: A New American Welfare Policy.”
In Assets and the Poor, Michael Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, writes that asset accumulation is structured and subsidized for many non-poor households, primarily via retirement accounts and home ownership.
Evidence supporting the link between savings and college success is growing. Three studies out of the Center for Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis offer a connection between assets and college enrollment and completion.
San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros and Michael Sherraden, director of the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, spoke at a media and policy briefing at the National Press Club on Sept. 21
Child Development Accounts are savings accounts that begin as early as birth. CDAs allow parents and children to accumulate savings for post-secondary education, homeownership or business initiatives.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis devoted a feature article in the spring issue of its publication, Bridges, to Child Development Accounts, an innovative tool for making long-term investments in children.
The Center for Social Development announces the publication of the March 2009 SEED Account Monitoring research report.
Subtitled “The movement to give every American a trust fund at birth,” the article summarizes the case for a universal children’s savings account.