RSS Feed
 |
|
|||||||||||||
New ASD program to give students life lessons on money By the time a young person heads off to college, he or she is likely to have a driver's license, a cell phone and at least one credit card tucked away in a pocket or purse. Unlike the license and the cell phone, however, the credit card came without much training on how to use it. As a result, for most young people, their first experience with credit is a disaster, and it can take years for them to move out from under the mess of a credit rating gone bad. That became apparent to volunteers at the North Amityville Taxpayer's Association (NATA), who work in conjunction with the Town to bring information and assistance to first-time homebuyers. "We always tell our clients that we are not here to take their dream of buying a home away, but to help them overcome whatever obstacles are in the way of their reaching that dream," said Jacqueline E. McCullough, executive director of NATA. McCullough and her staff recognized early on that many of the young people coming to them for assistance were missing two essential elements to establishing a sound financial foundation: a good credit rating and the ability to budget and save money. "After numerous conversations, it became very clear that the lack of training in the use of credit cards and budget creation left them ill-prepared to handle the sophisticated arena of credit and debt management," said McCullough. As a result, McCullough and her staff had to work with first-time homebuyers to reestablish their credit rating. In addition, they had to teach them how to change bad spending habits, how to budget their money and how to save a portion of their income every year. "What became apparent was that we had to get to these young people earlier," said McCullough, "and to work with them earlier to develop sound financial skills before they were ready to buy a home." NATA contacted Amityville School District Superintendent Brian De Sorbe and proposed adding a segment to the district's curriculum for high school students called "Your Money, Your Life." Students began taking the course as part of the high school's social studies program this semester. "This is going to be a very helpful program for students that will give them practical, personal economics skills," said Dr. Scott Andrews, Amityville High School Principal. "The objective is to get them to understand how important saving money and maintaining a good credit rating is throughout their lives." This year, the program is a 40-minute, five-session program for seniors. Following completion of the program, Andrews said educators would sit down and evaluate it and begin to put together a similar program for 11th graders. "Our objective is to work our way down to the 9th graders," said Andrews. "We want a comprehensive career and financial management course that really prepares them throughout high school." The district is also working in partnership with CitiBank in Amityville. Joe Fioravanti of Citibank said he would be discussing credit training with the students, teaching them about savings and checking accounts and how to avoid credit problems. "I want to show them how starting small can turn into something big," said Fioravanti, who has a background in credit and securities industries. "Most young people don't think ahead to the time they want to buy a home or retire, but it is important that they do and that they understand that good practices now prevent problems down the road." McCullough said the issue goes beyond Amityville's borders, however, and that she'd like to see a program similar to the one being put into place in Amityville at every high school. National statistics seem to bear her out. Fourteen states now require students to complete Finance 101 in addition to advanced math, science and English requirements. An article that appeared in USA Today stated that in 2006, high school students answered an average of 52.4 percent of questions about credit cards, insurance, retirement and savings accurately. The Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy gave the quiz, and the figures represent a drop from the 57.3 percent average score in 1997, but an increase from 50.2 percent in 2002. "States are recognizing that financial literacy is an important skill for the 21st century," Joseph Peri of the National Council on Economic Education and Citigroup's Office of Financial Education was quoted as saying.
|
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
||||||||||||
