Financial Literacy 101: Personal Finance for College Students

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Financial Literacy 101 Personal Finance for
College Students
Course Introduction Presentation
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About Decision Partners

• 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in
  2004.
• Offers two finance-related online courses
  TuitionEdu.org for high school students and
  FinancialLiteracy101.org for college freshmen.
• Implemented two financial literacy programs in MA
  a pilot program in 2006 and a statewide program
  in 2007.
• Courses were piloted by 100 institutions
  nation-wide in 2005.

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What We Learned Students

• Of over 500 high school seniors surveyed in
  2006/7
• Students react well to learning about financial
  literacy online
• 97 percent would recommend the course to
  friends.
• 94 percent said they learned a lot from this
  course.
• 77 percent found the course interesting.
• Over 90 percent of students agreed that the
  course increased their understanding of credit
  cards in several areas, including the impact of
  interest on payments, the consequences of
  misusing credit cards, and the consequences of
  making just the minimum payment.
• 60 percent of respondents had never discussed
  college debt with their parents, 48 percent had
  never discussed credit card management with their
  parents.

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What We Learned Counselors

• Want a financial literacy option that fits into
  existing programs rather than starting a totally
  new program.
• Want ways to educate parents about financial aid
  before financial aid nights.
• Want multiple ways of educating families, online
  and offline, including marketing resources to
  promote opportunities to the community.
• Optional classroom integration is a plus.

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We Listened Introducing TuitionEDU

• TuitionEdu integrates both financial aid and
  money management education for students and their
  parents.
• Designed with the feedback from dozens of
  guidance counselors.
• Curriculum developed under the guidance of a
  former senior Duke University aid staff member.

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TuitionEdu Goals

• To promote college access while preventing common
  financial problems. Covers
• Aid application process
• Getting the best deal in student loans
• Side-by-side comparison of actual aid award
  letters
• Introduction to personal finance, including
  budgeting, credit cards, avoiding identity theft,
  banking strategies
• Compliments existing financial education
  programs.

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Outline Personalized Homepage

• Aid Coach guides families through the process,
  telling them what they need to accomplish based
  on their actual progress.
• Personalized start page families build around
  their own learning needs.
• Easy-to-use visual design developed through
  extensive focus group research into online
  preferences of teens.

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Outline Extensive Survey Integration

• 40 survey questions capture the knowledge,
  attitudes and behaviors of students and parents
  towards college finance.
• Used to customize parts of the course, track key
  knowledge indicators, and gather continuous
  feedback from students.
• Final Exam measures learning and reinforces
  important points.

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Outline Interactive Curriculum

• Three interactive chapters for each course teach
  key lessons developed by our experts.
• Linear learning model just like an in the
  classroom course.
• Students may start and stop the course at will
  without having to start over.
• Takes less than an hour.

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Course Outline Financial Planning Tool

• Best-in-class tool lets families compare aid
  awards, assemble assets available for college
  expenses, and plan for the future.
• Makes personalized suggestions for maximizing aid
  based on factors including asset allocation and
  debt load.

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Course Outline Extensive Resources

• Hundreds of pages of detailed information,
  exercises, calculators, and downloads supplement
  the interactive course.
• Help to address different learning styles.

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Why TuitionEdu?

• A true turnkey solution... no administration or
  technical support required from schools.
• Efficiently addresses an unmet need for
  campus-wide financial education with limited
  budget/staff resources.
• Surveys, exams and usage statistics offer
  quantitative results.
• No credit card ads, no sales of user data, no
  lender affiliation.
• Fits ASCA National Model for data-driven
  programs.

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How to Participate

• TELL US you would like to use the course in your
  school. Register online at DecisionPartners.org.
• Includes
• Unlimited course access.
• Free DVD.
• Fliers for guidance office, bulletin boards.
• Handouts for assemblies, classrooms, financial
  aid nights.
• Material for school newsletters, websites and
  student newspapers.
• Course launches October 29, supplementary
  materials available in November.

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To learn more about the many benefits of bringing
TuitionEdu to your school, please contact Jim
Pfeiffer atjim_at_decisionpartners.org(978)
562-1390Or register online atwww.decisionpart
ners.org
Thank You!