WINTER 2019 VOLUME 53, NUMBER 4 1797 TERRI FRIEDLINE, IAN M. DUNHAM , AND MEGAN O’BRIEN The Financial Services Environment and Schools’ Savings Rates in the San Francisco Kindergarten to College Program Children’s savings accounts (CSAs) have emerged as a promising intervention to improve educational outcomes, curtail rising student loan debt, and promote equality of opportunity. Numerous local- ized CSA programs have emerged in the last decade, and many are embedded within school systems. This study leverages novel data to investigate participation in one of the oldest and most well-known CSA programs in the country: the San Francisco Kindergarten to College (K2C) Program in the San Francisco Unifed School District. Spatial analysis of 21,617 accounts at 74 elementary schools reveals statistically signifcant differences in the rates of elementary schools’ K2C account participation based on the concentrations of banks, credit unions, and alternative fnancial service providers—net controls for neighborhood demographics. Unless explicitly addressed, substantial variations in the fnancial service environment across neighborhoods could undermine participation in school-based CSA programs for the very children these programs intend to support. Children’s savings accounts 1 (CSAs) have emerged as a potential solution to the problems of increasing income and wealth inequality (Piketty 2014), rising student loan debt (Baum et al. 2017; Dynarski 2015), and doubts about the effectiveness of education for promoting equality of opportunity (Addo 2018; Addo, Houle, and Simon 2016; Houle and Warner 2017; McMillan Cottom 2017; Webber 2016). CSAs are interest-earning and incentivized bank accounts that are automatically opened for all children at birth or shortly thereafter for the purposes of saving for and investing in 1. Children’s Savings Accounts are also discussed as Child Development Accounts (CDAs), College Savings Accounts (CSAs), and Baby Bonds. There are many similarities between CSAs or CDAs and Baby Bonds, though the policy proposals are not exactly interchangeable. CSAs are discussed in greater detail by Elliott and Lewis (2015a, 2015b). CDAs are described by Sherraden and coworkers (Huang et al. 2017; Sherraden 1991). Baby Bonds are discussed in greater detail in a proposal by Hamilton and Darity (2010). Terri Friedline (tfriedli@umich.edu) is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan. Ian M. Dunham (iandunham@sfsu.edu) is an assistant professor at San Francisco State University, College of Business. Megan O’Brien (megobr@umich.edu) is a research area specialist at the University of Michigan. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Winter 2019: 1797–1824 DOI: 10.1111/joca.12264 Copyright 2019 by The American Council on Consumer Interests