Kindergarten to College (K2C) College Enrollment Findings: Fuel for an Evidence-Based Movement

Abstract

This brief presents new evidence from Kindergarten to College (K2C), a Children’s Savings Account (CSA) program in San Francisco, CA.1 As part of the vision of then Mayor Gavin Newsom (now Governor of California) and under the leadership of Treasurer José Cisneros, K2C started 13 years ago by automatically opening an account with an initial seed deposit of $50 for over 1,000 kindergarten students. K2C is the nation’s first automatic and universal CSA program and one of the most recognized CSA programs in the U.S. It became the model for local CSA programs across the country and signaled to policymakers that CSAs could be administered at scale.

Key Findings: • Among K2C students, the gap in college enrollment between represented and underrepresented students decreased by nearly 30% relative to the gap in the comparison group. • The gap in on-time graduation between represented and underrepresented students decreased by nearly 1/3 (29%) relative to the gap in the comparison group.