Kindergartners make first deposits into college savings accounts

Kindergarten students line up to deposit money into their college savings account at CitiBank, with help from Treasurer Jose Cisneros and the Japanese Consul General.

Kindergarten students in the Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program at Clarendon Alternative School are learning the value of savings at a young age. 

Joined by Treasurer José Cisneros and the Japanese Consul General, students on Dec. 14 made deposits into their college savings accounts and toured a CitiBank branch. 

Students asked all sorts of questions at the bank, including: 

"Where do you keep the money?"

"How do you get the money out?"

"How do you use the machines?"

"What do you do about robbers?"

The San Francisco Kindergarten to College (K2C) Program is a partnership between the City and SFUSD in which a college savings account with $50 is automatically opened for each SFUSD student entering kindergarten.

Students press buttons on an ATM machine at CitiBank as part of a lesson of what happens at banks.

Research shows that students with a college savings account in their name are 3-5 times more likely to attend college than children without an account. 

Here are the latest stats from K2C: Total savers: 6,040 Total Accounts: 35,113 SFUSD Saver Rate: 17.2% New savers between Oct and Nov: 75 Total saved by students, families: $3.5 million Total in accounts: $6.2 million Total online users: 3,030 New online users between Sept and Oct: 28

Go here to learn more about this college savings program.