Welcome to IDA-PAYS: Postsecondary Access for Your Success!

The Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis (CHEPA) at the University of Southern California received funding from the Lumina Foundation for Education to gain a greater understanding of the opportunities and challenges of postsecondary institutions working with non-profits to offer IDAs (matched savings account) to low-income students.  This website is a comprehensive guide to help those interested in IDAs—higher education institutions, IDA practitioners, researchers, and policy analysts. Please stay and browse through this website to gain a better understanding of the project, educational IDAs, and other related topics.

See About the Project for a background of IDAs, an overview of our research (interviews, case studies, and focus groups), funding, and how and where we are disseminating our data.  For an update on our most recent activities, visit What’s New.

Under the Resources link we have a ‘FAQs about IDAs’ section which is a collection of questions we have come across throughout our study. This section also includes Other Organizations FAQs on IDAs. Also for those interested in partnering to offer IDAs, don't miss our CHEPA Resources and Other Resources tabs which are a large compilation of documents to help you begin your journey on the path to IDAs. And lastly, for the beginnings of our toolkit highlight 'PR Toolkit.'

Check out the Publications link to view the publications we have written to date. Some of our papers are written to particular audiences, like higher education institutions, IDA practitioners, and IDA participants. In this section you will also find other publications written on such topics as higher education, low-income students, and financial education. To email the research team or see our bios visit Contact Us.

Research Team