IU researcher studies foreclosures' impact on kids

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — An Indiana University researcher is joining cohorts from three other universities in a study that will look at why children's grades often suffer when their families lose their homes to foreclosure.

IU assistant professor Ashlyn Aiko Nelson says previous research has shown that the experience of losing one's home and being forced to move can negatively impact a child's grades. But she says it's unclear why that's the case.

Nelson and researchers from New York University, Northwestern University and the University of Connecticut will look for those causes during their three-year study, which will track students in areas of the U.S. hard-hit by the housing and foreclosure crisis.

The team won an $800,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for their work.