Financial Literacy Goes National

(FOX Providence) - There’s a new federal campaign underway to help young people take charge of their financial futures.

The US Treasury Department and the US Department of Education are combining to launch the National Financial Capability Challenge. It’s an effort designed to increase the financial knowledge and capabilities of high school students across the country.

Here to talk about the initiative is Peter Kerwin from the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority.

So how does the National Financial Capability Challenge work?

This is a program that’s been around for a while, but this year, there’s a renewed focus and a big push from Treasury Secretary Geithner and Education Secretary Duncan to really get high schools involved in this program. Teachers working with high school aged students can register their students for the challenge, download an Educator Toolkit, prepare their students and administer an online exam testing the financial know-how of their students.

The deadline for registration is March 14th and you can find more information at http://challenge.treasury.gov . There’s a message from Secretary Duncan there, as well as lesson plans and a forum where schools can exchange best practices ideas. The exam takes about half an hour to administer. The top two scorers at each school, plus all students scoring in the top 20%, will receive National Financial Capability Challenge Award Certificates. All participating educators will receive an official certificate, and educators from schools and states with the highest proportion of participating students will be recognized as well.

There is a really big push to encourage participation this year because the need for more financial literacy education has never been more important. When you live through an economic crisis and see the growing complexity of our economy, it is clear we need to strengthen the financial skills of our young people, not only to help ensure their future success, but to put our country in a stronger position down the line.

Who is coordinating the effort in Rhode Island?

Fortunately, we have a number of high schools in Rhode Island which have been active in these kinds of events. The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition has worked to promote these programs and they’ve partnered with Treasury in past years on a number of great education initiatives and hosted a number of Treasury officials coming to the Ocean State to talk about financial literacy.

It’s really encouraging to see the Treasury and Education departments coming together to put so much weight behind this important financial literacy program. They understand the importance of giving young people the skills they need to make smart choices—about earning and spending, saving and investing, using credit wisely, avoiding fraud and paying for college. These are the life skills American students need to have as they drive our economy forward in the future.