Invest in College Success: A Pilot of Educational Matched Savings, Financial Education and Coaching, and College Affordability Supports

The two-year pilot is being implemented by two Boston-based nonprofits—the Midas Collaborative and uAspire —in collaboration with three MA-based community colleges—Bunker Hill, Northern Essex, and Springfield Technical. The program offers educational matched savings programming to 30-40 enrolled students per institution per year that allows students meeting income and asset eligibility criteria to triple their savings of $750 over a 12-month period. Students' savings will be matched by dollars contributed by their institutions and raised through the Department of Health and Human Services Assets for Independence Act Program and can be used for approved education-related expenses such as tuition, fees, and supplies. At least 200 students per institution per year will also be offered access to college affordability supports to help them navigate financial aid processes through strategic text messaging and in some instances, one-on-one in-person meetings with college affordability support specialists who will be physically present at the institutions two days per week. Up to 200 students per institution per year may also take advantage of advanced financial coaching services offered remotely by Midas.

The goals of the program are to 1) increase students' ability to manage their financial lives effectively, 2) increase students' capacity for navigating financial systems, and 3) minimize the impact of financial barriers on the achievement of students' postsecondary objectives.

The Boston Fed will be evaluating this two-year pilot in-kind. The majority of funding for the delivery of the pilot comes from the U.S. Treasury's Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund.

For More Information contact:
Sarah Savage
Community Affairs Manager
Financial Capabilities Group
Regional & Community Outreach
sarah.savage@bos.frb.org
(617) 973-3072