99101.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Children who have even small savings accounts for college are seven times more likely to attend and graduate from college.
(b) College enrollment among low-income students has risen but significantly lags behind the enrollment of middle- and high-income students. In 2012, about 51 percent of recent low-income high school graduates and equivalency holders were enrolled in college, while enrollment among middle- and high-income students had risen to nearly 65 percent and 81 percent, respectively.
(c) Recent pilot programs in California and throughout the nation have proven that low-income people can save if they have incentives and mechanisms encouraging them to do so.
(d) In San Francisco, the Kindergarten to College Program (K2C) is a college savings program by the City and County of San Francisco in partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). A college savings account is automatically opened for each SFUSD student entering kindergarten with $50 and families have the opportunity to earn additional incentives by contributing their own money into the account. K2C is the most successful program of its kind with more than 27,000 kids in the SFUSD with accounts. Families have saved over $2.25 million of their own money and 50 percent of these families have children who qualify for free and reduced lunch.