Starting Point for College Financial Literacy Programs
This page represents an excellent starting point for individuals and organizations with the desire to launch college financial literacy programs. The resources here offer tips for choosing topic content and developing financial literacy coursework programs for youth that speak to the common background effects with which college-aged young adults must deal.
The Best College Financial Literacy Programs Cover these Topics
A recent survey discovered that college students do, indeed, lack financial literacy. In order to design the best college financial literacy programs, organizers will find the following tips helpful. This section discusses three prominent workshop topics that a college-based program should consider covering.
How will young adults pay to attend school? College isn’t free, and prospective enrollees need to discover funding mechanisms prior to showing up on campus. This workshop presents various sources for funding, educational return on investment, creating a college budget, and selecting a career path.
What knowledge and skills do they need to live on their own? Independent life demands that young people know how to goal-set, budget, purchase vehicles, organize expenses, handle credit, and obtain sufficient insurance.
What will they do after they leave school? On average, students leave college owing thousands of dollars on student loans. Learning how to repay their loans on the best terms and designing a plan for life after school becomes imperative, so for a personal finance course for college students to accomplish its goals, instruction on this topic is most germane.
Financial Literacy Programs for College Students – Background Factors to Consider
Young adults have probably developed a full set of financial habits against the backdrop of multiple influential factors. These factors include the parental financial situation, behavioral modeling, financial sentiments they’ve formed, education about money, and level of systematization of their finances.
It’s not hard to see how the parents’ financial status has bearing on the young adults’ money-handling capabilities. Along with parental influences, impressions are exerted on college-aged youth by their peer group, environment, and – maybe most significant of all – advertisers. Financial literacy training methods for college students should strive to counter any influences that may have contributed to negative habits.
Anxiety, fear, and embarrassment represent common negative emotions people develop toward money. These feelings can get in the way of people reaching their goals, and college financial literacy programs that help resolve negative emotions can be especially advantageous. Since most young adults have not received adequate financial education as part of their upbringing, college is a prime time to provide them with key money management skills.
One such skill is the ability to systematize their personal finances. Preparing students by providing the systems and support they need to achieve success in their early financial decisions will be a fundamental piece of the best college financial literacy programs.
All these strategies for teaching financial literacy in schools and colleges are relevant and timely in today’s economic climate.
