Community Advantage Introduces New High School Financial Education Program

By O’Hara, Maureen

Young adults need financial education now more than ever. A 2005 survey by the National Jumpstart Coalition measured students’ financial aptitude and the results are shocking:

* Only 16.7 percent of students took a course in money management or personal finance (down from a high of 20.1 percent in 2004).

* The mean financial literacy score for students who had taken such a course was 51.6 percent, which was below the average for all students.

Your bank can begin to change this trend. An educational program called Banking Is now enables community banks to help make a positive impact on local high school students.

The program, provided by GreenPath Debt Solutions, is designed to get financial literacy into the hands of all high school juniors and seniors. It’s one of the oldest, most comprehensive and most respected programs in the nation, according to Michael Williams, GreenPath’s market development representative who is spreading the Banking Is word to community banks and schools across the country.

Once a bank has agreed to sponsor the program locally, Williams goes into its surrounding area and gauges interest on behalf of local schools. One of the many benefits of this program, he says, is the personalization of it. “I contact the schools, find the right fit, talk with the teachers and walk them through it.” It’s designed to be taught in five different classroom periods, but teachers can also use the lesson plans intermittently.

There are three main components to the Banking Is program: an instructor’s guide, a student guide and a student check set. There is also an audiovisual component that provides the teacher with additional learning tools including a PowerPoint presentation or transparency set, and a VHS or DVD. And currently in the development phase is a computer software program.

Greenville Community Bank makes financial counseling and education available to its customers through GreenPath’s Community Advantage program and BudgetSmart software. The bank also sponsored Banking Is at Greenville High School because it wanted to extend its personal financial education efforts to young adults. “Having been involved in schools we saw that it was needed,” President and CEO Jim Beckman said.

Beckman, a veteran of the banking industry for 23 years, supplemented the teachings of Banking Is when he spoke to Marcie Matevich’s Personal Money Management courses at Greenville H.S. Armed with information about various banking issues like checking and savings accounts, loans and credit cards; he helped dispel common misconceptions about banking. The students were more than halfway through the Banking Is course and were ‘well informed’ when Beckman arrived. “They asked very good questions and were engaged and interested in the subject,” he said. “It was a good opportunity to meet with future bank clients.” One of the myths Beckman was asked to confirm or deny was the idea that if the students had an unkempt appearance with big hair and piercings, they may be denied a loan. Not true, Beckman said.

The Personal Money Management course offered at Greenville H.S. is open to students in grades 9-12 and is devoted to teaching the necessary personal finance skills needed in the future. Surprisingly, Matevich’s first career didn’t involve finance, despite graduating from college with a dual major in graphic design and business, with an emphasis in accounting. After 10 years in the advertising industry, she switched professions and has been teaching for 19 years – seven at Greenville H.S. and two as the instructor of Personal Money Management. Matevich was looking on the Internet for some banking simulation materials to use in the semester-long course a year ago when her colleague got a call from GreenPath’s Williams.

Matevich said that now more than ever, young adults need personal financial education as some of her students are already living on their own. “The dynamics of kids have really changed,” she said. “They’re having to take on different roles earlier.” Writing a check was something new to the students, thanks to the ease and dependency of debit cards. Another important lesson Matevich taught her students was the importance of balancing a checkbook to avoid writing a bad check and being saddled with multiple fees. Her students found the exercise involving tracking a whole series of checks very tricky, she said. “They’re challenged by the question, ‘Can I get the right total?’

“Perhaps one of the biggest rewards of the program,” Matevich said, “is her students’ desire to help their parents reconcile their own bank accounts.” This is stuff that they’re interested in explaining to their parents. Banking Is has been made available to schools in 27 states and has more than 200 bank relationships. If your bank is interested in promoting financial literacy in your community schools, please contact Al Bilinski, Michigan’s Banking Is representative, at (248)553-5400 ext. 2490 or e-mail abilinski@greenpath.com.

MAUREEN O’HARA

By MAUREEN O’HARA

Communications Specialist

GreenPath Debt Solutions

Farmington Hills

Maureen O’Hara is GreenPath’s PR/Marketing Assistant. A graduate of Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, her work has appeared in publications such as the South Bend Tribune, The Macomb Daily and the Lansing State Journal. While studying abroad, Maureen had the opportunity to interview many scholarly and political figures in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Copyright Public Relation Enterprises, Inc. Apr 2007

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