Six years ago this summer, the financial crisis began when the first warning tremors were felt in our credit markets, and U.S. citizens began to hear new terms like mortgage-backed securities, subprime loans and credit default swaps. The financial crisis and recession also exposed behaviors that indicate low levels of financial literacy across the nation. Many people purchased homes they could not afford using unsound financial products they did not understand. As a result, mortgage defaults, foreclosure rates, personal credit defaults and bankruptcy rates reached near record highs.
According to the 2013 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey, 43 percent of adults worry that they do not have enough rainy day savings for an emergency, 31 percent have not saved anything for retirement, 31 percent have no savings, and 26 percent do not pay their bills on time. The behaviors underlying this data suggest a severe lack of personal finance knowledge and skill.
Such negative financial outcomes and low levels of consumer knowledge and confidence have made it crystal clear that financial literacy in America should be a national priority. Moreover, studies have shown that financial literacy is linked to positive outcomes like wealth accumulation, stock market participation, retirement planning, and avoiding high-cost alternative financial services like payday lending and auto title loans.
To avoid another financial crisis in the future and to improve personal finance outcomes for American citizens, our nation must be educated in personal finance. A great place to start is with our K-12 students. In too many of our states, our youth receive little if any personal finance training in middle school, high school and college.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
Six years ago this summer, the financial crisis began when the first warning tremors were felt in our credit markets, and U.S. citizens began to hear new terms like mortgage-backed securities, subprime loans and credit default swaps. The financial crisis and recession also exposed behaviors that indicate low levels of financial literacy across the nation. Many people purchased homes they could not afford using unsound financial products they did not understand. As a result, mortgage defaults, foreclosure rates, personal credit defaults and bankruptcy rates reached near record highs.
According to the 2013 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey, 43 percent of adults worry that they do not have enough rainy day savings for an emergency, 31 percent have not saved anything for retirement, 31 percent have no savings, and 26 percent do not pay their bills on time. The behaviors underlying this data suggest a severe lack of personal finance knowledge and skill.
Such negative financial outcomes and low levels of consumer knowledge and confidence have made it crystal clear that financial literacy in America should be a national priority. Moreover, studies have shown that financial literacy is linked to positive outcomes like wealth accumulation, stock market participation, retirement planning, and avoiding high-cost alternative financial services like payday lending and auto title loans.
To avoid another financial crisis in the future and to improve personal finance outcomes for American citizens, our nation must be educated in personal finance. A great place to start is with our K-12 students. In too many of our states, our youth receive little if any personal finance training in middle school, high school and college.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
Six years ago this summer, the financial crisis began when the first warning tremors were felt in our credit markets, and U.S. citizens began to hear new terms like mortgage-backed securities, subprime loans and credit default swaps. The financial crisis and recession also exposed behaviors that indicate low levels of financial literacy across the nation. Many people purchased homes they could not afford using unsound financial products they did not understand. As a result, mortgage defaults, foreclosure rates, personal credit defaults and bankruptcy rates reached near record highs.
According to the 2013 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey, 43 percent of adults worry that they do not have enough rainy day savings for an emergency, 31 percent have not saved anything for retirement, 31 percent have no savings, and 26 percent do not pay their bills on time. The behaviors underlying this data suggest a severe lack of personal finance knowledge and skill.
Such negative financial outcomes and low levels of consumer knowledge and confidence have made it crystal clear that financial literacy in America should be a national priority. Moreover, studies have shown that financial literacy is linked to positive outcomes like wealth accumulation, stock market participation, retirement planning, and avoiding high-cost alternative financial services like payday lending and auto title loans.
To avoid another financial crisis in the future and to improve personal finance outcomes for American citizens, our nation must be educated in personal finance. A great place to start is with our K-12 students. In too many of our states, our youth receive little if any personal finance training in middle school, high school and college.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
Education and Literacy;Poverty;Race and Ethnicity
Making targeted decisions about how, when, and where to intervene to improve educational outcomes for black males requires understanding the complex pathways that shape these outcomes. This study, undertaken for the Black Male Donor Collaborative, uses longitudinal data on a cohort of black males from New York City Schools to gain insights about the different possible student paths, with specific focuses on middle school and math scale scores.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York / New York County / New York City
Community and Economic Development;Education and Literacy
This new report from The Democracy Collaborative and the Responsible Endowments Coalition seeks to connect struggling communities to local institutional wealth through engaging student activism. The report profiles three administration-led initiatives and three student-led initiatives, as well as five potential future partnerships, where institutional investments are directed into local communities in a way that empowers low-income residents, develops small businesses, and generates sustainable economic development.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
Education has always been a key driver in our nation's struggle to promote social mobility and widen the circle of people who can enjoy the American Dream. No set of educational institutions better embodies the promise of equal opportunity than community colleges. Two-year colleges have opened the doors of higher education for low-income and working-class students as never before, and yet, community colleges often lack the resources to provide the conditions for student success. Furthermore, there is a growing racial and economic stratification between two- and four-year colleges, producing harmful consequences.
"Bridging the Higher Education Divide" faces those grave realities in unblinking fashion.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
Most high-achieving, low-income students do not even apply to selective colleges despite being highly qualified for admission and success at these institutions. Because they do not apply, these students forgo the generous academic resources, increased financial aid, and better collegiate and career opportunities that selective schools offer. To increase opportunities and improve outcomes for these students, we propose building on the success of an innovative intervention, the Expanding College Opportunities (ECO) Project. At a relatively low cost of about $6 per student contacted, ECO sent the following to high-achieving, low-income students: targeted and personalized information on their college options, information on the process for applying, and details of the financial information relevant to their situations. The intervention had a profound effect on their college application behavior, leading to a substantial increase in their propensity to apply to more-selective colleges commensurate with their academic achievements. Not only did students apply to more-selective schools, but they were accepted and matriculated at such schools in greater numbers, and early evidence points to their academic success in these programs. The promising results of this low-cost program suggest that ECO should be expanded. This paper proposes steps to expand and improve ECO to reach more low-income, high-achieving students across the country by partnering with respected third-party organizations such as the College Board and ACT. ECO can also serve as a model for designing and applying this type of intervention to other populations of students. The success of the ECO Project highlights the importance of researchers being able to access relevant government data to design targeted and effective programs and policie
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
Children and Youth;Education and Literacy
American society reflects considerable class immobility, much of which is due to the wide gap in college completion rates between advantaged and disadvantaged groups of students. This report discusses the factors that cause unequal college completion rates and introduces assets as an explanation stratification scholars often ignore. The following chapters are included in this report:
- From a Debt-Dependent to an Asset-Based Financial Aid Model
- Institutional Facilitation and CSA (Child Savings Account) Effects
- CSAs as an Early Commitment Financial Aid Strategy
- From Disadvantaged Students to College Graduates: The Role of CSAs
- How CSAs Facilitate Saving and Asset Accumulation
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
