COLLEGE STATION — It’s not free money, but it’s almost as good: a no-cost program for teens that helps them manage their money and prepare for their financial future.
The Texas Agricultural Extension Service is using the national High School Financial Planning Program’s seven-part curriculum enrichment program to build financial literacy skills, said Nancy Granovsky, a professor and family economics specialist with the Extension Service.
“Society spends a lot of time teaching kids how to earn money, but not much teaching them what to do after they’ve earned it,” said Granovsky, a certified financial planner. “Knowing how to manage one’s money effectively is an acquired skill.”
With the 10-to-12-hour program, students can learn about factors that impact career decisions, entrepreneurship, development of spending and savings plans, credit establishment, insurance and risk management, and various investment options, among other subjects.
The material was developed by the National Endowment for Financial Education with help from extension specialists. The Denver-based foundation has reached almost 900,000 students nationally with the progam since 1986. Since 1994, more than 19,000 of those have been in Texas.
Although the program is available to anyone, it is introduced primarily through the Cooperative Extension system nationwide, said Elizabeth Schiever, the program’s national director.
“We have an extensive partnership agreement with the extension service, from the federal level on down,” Shiever said.
In Texas, the program will be used by approximately 400 schools this year. In October alone, Granovsky said, 15 new entered the program.
Teachers or other instructors get a free set of instruction materials; students receive a 165-page workbook and a personal finance portfolio.
Students chart how much of their money is spent on entertainment, clothing, school and other expense categories. They also compare loans by looking at interest rates, fees and penalties, monthly payments and other factors.
They are asked to think about and plan career paths, as well as specific financial goals, such as the dollar amount they hope to have by a certain age and how much they will have to invest each month to reach that goal. (over)
Sandra Henson and Rolanda Wilkins, Jefferson County agents in family and consumer sciences, have worked with teen mothers in Beaumont and Port Arthur for the past three school years. They say the students have both learned and had fun in the program.
Playing games such as “money management bingo” and doing word puzzles that indicate mastery of financial terminology are just two of the entertaining-but-educational aspects of the program.
Henson said, “They really enjoyed the games and the workbook. It was a good hands-on experience, and we could see that they were making progress.”
Wilkins gathered apartment guides from the Houston and Beaumont area and used them to help students plan life in an apartment. The teens had to consider various deposits they would pay as well as such monthly costs as rent, food, entertainment, makeup and other expenses.
“They told me they didn’t know how expensive it was going to be to live on their own,” Wilkins said. “They really gained a lot of information in the exercise.”
The program’s objectives mesh well with state educational requirements, and it is geared primarily toward 11th and 12th-graders. Consumer and resource management, economic education, vocational agriculture and business math teachers are most often interested in the program, but it can be used in various settings both inside and outside of schools, Granovsky said.
“It’s ideally suited to people in General Equivalency Diploma courses, because it’s very practical,” she said.
It has also been used with military families by Extension agents at Fort Hood, with 4-H groups, and even in some prison systems. Many other county agents have also introduced the program to various groups, Granovsky said.
Still, she added, “My feeling is we certainly can reach more people with this program. We need to begin thinking about the home schooling market and others, because this training is something many young people can use. Everyone needs financial literacy skills.”
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