The 2014 National Council for Economic Education Survey of the States¹ found that only 17 states in the country mandate financial literacy education, and only six states require testing of financial management skills before students can graduate from high school. Further, with student loan debt above $1 trillion², it is apparent that college students have to rely on loans to further their education. Thus, many entering college students not only face significant financial need, they also may not be equipped with the tools to manage the resources which they do have.

At LaGuardia Community College, located in New York City, the situation is no better -- the 2014 Institutional Profile indicated that 61.8% of students living with parents have a family income less than $25,000, while 81.5% of students living away from parents have a family income less than $25,000. Additionally, New York State does not require financial literacy education in high schools thereby reducing students' ability to tackle complex financial issues that could affect them for years to come.

The First Year Seminar for Business at LaGuardia (FYS) is a mandatory, credit-bearing, discipline-specific course, and the presenters, who were also FYS course designers, have for a long time believed personal financial literacy to be a crucial component of students' education, with statistics supporting that belief. The FYS course was thus leveraged as a unique opportunity to engage students in the exploration of financial literacy concepts and applications, to facilitate students' financial wellness and empowerment, not just in the course, but life-long.

Presenters will share the rationale for personal financial literacy lesson and activity design, experiences with classroom implementation, and the ways in which the lessons and activities can be modified for diverse settings. Presenters will also reflect on how their pedagogy may help to inform and impact the practice of faculty and staff across college campuses.

1 National Council for Economic Education. (2014). Survey of the states: Economic and personal finance education in our nation’s schools in 2014. New York: NCEE.

2 Current Student Loan Debt in the United States (n.d.). Retrieved from www.collegedebt.com.