Doubling Down for Education

Eighth-graders from two area schools will be learning the importance and power of savings this fall, thanks to a program that will double every $10 bill the students deposit each month into a college savings account — every month for five years. That’s an Andrew Jackson for every Alexander Hamilton.

The student participants attend Valadez Middle School Academy, part of the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District, and Orangeview Junior High in the Anaheim Union High School District. Soon they will be members of the inaugural class of the U.S. Bank Economic Empowerment Program within Cal State Fullerton’s Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.

A formal announcement of the new program will be made at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at the two participating schools.

Illustrating one aspect of the power of compounding, the program is funded by a combination of private and public funds — a $500,000 U.S. Bank award to Mihaylo College in 2010, plus $150,000 from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assets for Independence.

In addition to the “double-matched” savings program, participating students will attend two financial education summer institutes and receive a financial education certificate.

The goal is to not only to provide youth with financial skills, but also to encourage them to pursue a college education, explained Radha Bhattacharya, professor of economics and director of the university’s Center for Economic Education, which oversees the program.

“I believe that this is a unique program because it goes beyond financial literacy and shows students that through the act of saving every month, it is possible to make the opportunity of a college education a reality,” she said.

# # #

Media Contacts:
Radha Bhattacharya, Center for Economic Education, 657-278-3652 or rbhattachary@fullerton.edu

Pamela McLaren, Public Affairs, 657-278-4852 or pmclaren@fullerton.edu