As the month of April approaches, now is a great time to begin considering your plans for Financial Literacy Month and how you will be promoting these concepts during the month. There are many ways to get creative. One approach is to plan one event each week during this month to continue to keep the focus on financial literacy. Here is a suggested outline you can follow for each week in the month of April. The versatility of these suggestions allows them to be moved around in order to best fit your institution.
- Week 1: Offer a month-long competition. Have students complete various online learning modules regarding Financial Literacy and offer a drawing with a prize for those students who complete the sessions. Contact your FATV Account Manager to determine if you have FATV’s online Financial Literacy Counseling as a part of your subscription. If you do not have online learning modules, there are many different variations of this idea that can be easily implemented. For example, have students submit a copy of their monthly budget as a way to be entered into a drawing.
- Week 2: Leverage your current default management plan by identifying certain student groups at risk for default (Pell recipients, TRiO students, students on SAP Warning and/or disqualification, students in specific majors, out-of-state residency, etc.). Offer specialized session on budgeting, borrowing and/or credit.
- Week 3: Offer in-person financial literacy sessions on different topics such as credit scores, credit cards, and eating healthy on a budget. Partner with local businesses and other campus experts to help present on these topics so that you are able to offer a wide variety of sessions.
- Week 4: Focus on your graduating students. Book time in a computer lab a few days during the week, offering drop-in appointments for students to review their NSLDS account, use the Repayment Estimator, and discuss the different repayment plan options.
