The Grant Center Encourages Inclusion of High End Digital Content in New GEAR UP Program
July 5, 2012
The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) submitted comments, prepared by the Grant Center, on the U.S. Secretary of Education’s proposed priorities for the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). The comments were focused on GEAR UP’s College Savings Account Research Demonstration Project encouraging the use of high quality digital content and services on financial literacy. The Grant Center is alerting education officials to the role that stations play for students as they transition from high school to college and/or career.
GEAR UP, under the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), provides support services to low-income students, which enable them to graduate from high school and succeed in postsecondary education. New in FY 2012, the DOE proposed the addition of a College Savings Account Research Demonstration Project. In past competitions, Financial Access and College Savings Accounts were indicated as an invitational priority. Now, the DOE seeks to make this project a more permanent fixture. The proposed priorities, released June 1, 2012, lay out the plan to provide a select number of low-income students with seed funding to be placed in a personal savings account, held in trust, with access contingent on high school graduation and college enrollment. Financial counseling will also be incorporated to teach students and their families the benefits of saving.
The GEAR UP program provides an opportunity for public broadcasting stations to further support their efforts in improving education outcomes for the nation’s most disadvantaged students. In the filed comments, APTS urges the DOE to not only treat the Financial Counseling component of this project with the same weight as the Student Savings Account, but to also incorporate high quality digital content and services promoting financial literacy. This new content would encourage regular savings and prepare students and families to make informed financial decisions about college and other matters.
Public broadcasting stations are well suited to participate in locally based solutions to keep high school students on a path to career and college, as can be seen through the success of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen. The inclusion of digital content on financial literacy would provide an added opportunity for stations to impact the education of youth in their community that need it the most.
Read the comments here.
Read the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed priorities here.
UPDATE: In January 2013, DOE released their Final Priorities for the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) - College Savings Account Research Demonstration Project. These priorities were in response to the comments filed by 19 different parties, including APTS. You can read the Final Priorities in their entirety, here.
