COLLEGE ACCESS Programs
Higher education should be attainable by everyone in the US.
Families
Saving Accounts
Alumni Graduated
Student Alumni Enrolled in Higher Education
Savings + Match
Since 2009, Inversant has helped more than 1,800 families prepare for higher education.
Curriculum
While families are investing financially in the higher education process, they also need information regarding college costs, financial aid, and the application process to help them make informed decisions. Our groundbreaking multi-year curriculum of monthly Inversant Learning Circles gives parents the skills, knowledge, and confidence to support their children’s quest for higher education. Our experienced facilitators coach parents on a full range of college access topics, including standardized testing, higher education options and costs, and the college application process. Inversant families increase their financial literacy so they understand how to minimize the amount they pay for college.
We cater our curriculum to families’ needs. Over half of our families are Hispanic, so all our educational materials are in English and Spanish. We also provide extensive online resources including 3-minute YouTube video lessons and the library of helpful websites to complement our monthly high school workshops.
CHILDREN’S SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
Inversant is a key player in the national children’s savings account movement for higher education. Our Inversant Savings Accounts and incentives give families a place to invest, and meaningful incentives to keep setting aside money for higher education.
TRAINING FOR PARENTS
Our effective curriculum of Inversant Learning Circles gives parents the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to send their kids to college. We coach parents on a full range of college access topics so they understand how to minimize the amount they pay for college.
COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT
We provide the right level of support to each family. Meeting them where they are in terms of location, language, experience level, and lifestyle. We create supportive communities of parents and encourage them to learn not only from us, but from each other.
Our Programs
Current program locations and partners:

Boston
Boys & Girls Club of Boston, Yawkey Club of Roxbury

Boston
Camp Harbor View

Boston
Trinity Education for Excellence Program

Chelsea
Chelsea Public School

Lynn
KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate

Lynn
La Vida Scholars

Revere
Revere Public Schools

Salem
Salem Public Schools
Ready to Enroll?
Enroll Now
EDUCATION LIBRARY
We have created this library of useful resources to help families better prepare for their children’s college education!
Our Research
WHAT ARE CHILDREN’S SAVINGS ACCOUNTS?
Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs), also known as Children’s Development Accounts (CDAs) are long-term savings or investment accounts that provide incentives to help children – especially low-income children- build savings for specific goals such as college, small business, housing, or a wedding, or toward any expense. Family ownership of assets has been shown to give children a transformative sense of possibility and hope for the future. In fact, research indicates that low- and moderate- income children with college savings of just $500 or less are 3 times more likely to enroll in college and 4 times more likely to graduate.
INVERSANT AND CSA
From its launch, Inversant has been data-driven, relying on a variety of evaluation metrics to test our savings products, incentives, and educational outreach formats to meet the needs of our families. We seek to share our best practices and learn from others’ to enhance CSA research and policy nationwide. To that end, Inversant participates in several regional and national CSA networks, such as Boston Federal Reserve’s New England CSA Consortium, and the 1:1 Fund affiliated with Prosperity Now. In June 2015, we joined the “Campaign for Every Kid’s Future” to raise visibility of CSA’s and ensure that at least 1.4 million children have a savings account in their name by 2020.
OUR ADVOCACY EFFORTS
The CSA movement has gained incredible momentum around the world and in the United States, and is at a critical time in its evolution, A report published by Prosperity Now indicated that “CSAs are gaining traction around the country, not as a fad or a merely interesting alternative but as potentially powerful tool with which to improve educational attainment and make existing institutions- K-12 schools, universities, the financial aid system- work better, especially for disadvantaged students.”
In Massachusetts, Inversant has been instrumental in convincing the legislature to create a commission to examine the desirability and feasibility of a statewide CSA program in Massachusetts. After five years, these efforts culminated into the passing of a bill establishing a two-year pilot CSA program in at least five cities in MA. The program will be managed by the Office of Economic Empowerment in Massachusetts State Treasury. We look forward to sharing more updates on this program along the year.
Inversant Working Papers Series
- Technology- Based Strategies to Promote Family Engagement in CSA– Fall 2016
- Technology- Based Strategies to Promote Family Engagement in CSA– Webinar Slides
- Building a CSA Program that Empowers Families to Invest in Higher Education– Fall 2015
Chelsea Study
- A Mixed Research Methods Study of Chelsea CSA program – Dr. Bahar Akman Imboden & Yiming Shuang, 2017
- The Chelsea Study Summary– Presentation, 2016
- The Impact of Parent Engagement on Student Outcomes: Analysis of the FUEL Education Model -Quantitative Analysis by Prof. Bridget Terry Long, 2016
- Examining the Role of Parent Involvement in College Access for Low-Income Students: A Mixed Methods Study of the FUEL Program – Qualitative Analysis by Dr.Jodut Hashmi, 2015
- The Impact of Parent Engagement on Student Outcomes – NCAN Presentation, 2013
Other:
- Leveraging Technology to Boost Children’s Savings Account (CSA) Programs – Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Communities & Banking, 2016
- Children’s Savings Accounts as Scholarships: Sliver Bullet or Leverage? – NSPA Presentation, 2014
- Why Student Loans Make Our Colleges Vulnerable – 2013
- The Case for and The Design of an Incentivized Saving Program for Massachusetts – 2012
1. Saving for College
2. Preparing for College
Important exams
Be a competitive candidate
- Take the RIGHT courses
- Extracurricular activities matter
- KnowHow2Go
- MEFA’s Early College Planning
- Planning Student Workbook
Find YOUR college
College costs
4. Paying for College
Start Here
Federal Student Aid
Find Scholarships
- Fastweb
- College Greenlight
- College Board
- U.Aspire local scholarships + Last Dollar Scholarships (Boston only)
- City of Boston Scholarship Guide (Local + National Scholarships)
Loans
- Loan basics
- Which college loans are best?
- FSA – Federal loan overview
- FSA – Repayment
- The Simple Dollar – Student Loan Consolidation Guide
- MA No-Interest Loan
- Student Loans The Right Way
Award Letters
5. College Transition
6. Career Planning
Información en español
Información sobre la ayuda económica estudiantil
- Sitio web de la ayuda económica federal – ¡Empice aquí!
- Solicitud de la ayuda económica estudiantil: El FAFSA en línea
- Ayuda con el FAFSA en su idioma
- Becas de MALDEF
Información impositiva (lo cual le servirá en llenar el FAFSA)
Don't qualify for federal & state financial aid?
Enrollment
Please complete the online enrollment form. One of our program professionals will get back to you within a couple of business days.