Child Engagement Questionnaire (CEQ)
Category: Families and Communities
College savings behaviors are associated with students’ postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment. While prior research has focused on economic and sociological influences, less is known about how geographic and community factors relate to savings. Using administrative data on nearly 200,000 Pennsylvania 529 accounts linked with community-level indicators, this study explores how place descriptively relates to plan selection, contribution amounts, and saving frequency. Results indicate that community characteristics and resources—such as socioeconomic status, income inequality, and the presence of local nonprofit organizations—are consistently associated with various college savings behaviors. The findings describe how savings behaviors among account owners vary across communities and offer insights for policymakers and researchers alike seeking to better understand existing college savings behavior and opportunities for targeting future savings interventions.
Keywords
529 plans; college savings; communities; descriptive analysis; income inequality; Pennsylvania; socioeconomic status; sociology of education
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/qqbj-bk73
