Lafayette Schools, Capital One Partner To Bring Kids Bank To Alice Boucher

Capital One Bank and the Lafayette Parish School System are celebrating the end of the year at Alice Boucher Elementary School with the success of the Kids Bank program at the school.

Mike Wack with Capital One and school system Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper, who joined "Nathan & Bernie in the Morning," said the Kids Bank has allowed 400 children to save $8,000, while learning "about financial matters that will help them for the rest of their life," Wack said.

The program allows students to make deposits into individual personal savings accounts at a bank on the campus run by fifth graders.

"This is the kind of thing that we want to do at every school," Cooper said. "It has given those children [at Alice Boucher] a chance to stand up and be citizens...They're learning how to behave in a different way, and it's actually helped in their test scores."

Wack said once students graduate from the fifth grade, Capital One provides them the cash they've saved through cashier's checks. Kids are also given the opportunity a few times a year to withdraw money for important events like Christmas and birthdays.

"They don't want it.  They want to keep the money in the bank, and they want to see that bank statement with their name on it every 90 days showing how much money they've saved," Wack said.

Cooper said the school system will use Capital One as an example to other businesses to show "if we have these kinds of partnerships, then great things can really happen for children."

"It really does say to everybody that even kids that are coming from poverty--even kids that are coming from less than desirable maybe neighborhoods--they can step up and they can learn what it means to be a responsible citizen," Cooper said.

To listen to the full interview with Wack and Cooper, click on the 'Play' button below.