Financial Literacy Project Implementation Plan
For
Enter your school name here
Overview
This financial literacy plan is being created as a vehicle to increase financial literacy at the College, as part of the California Community the College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) effort to increase financial literacy across the entire California Community College System and within the communities in which schools are located.
The CCCCO effort has laid out a number of broad objectives for implementing financial education at the individual school level, to be articulated and executed in Phase One and Phase Two of this effort, including:
Increasing financial capability for all students enrolled in the system; and,
Reducing student loan default rates; and,
Increasing student success and program completion; and,
Creating a culture of financial competence on each campus.
The CCCCO has also established a series of secondary, Phase Three, outward-looking goals for pursuit by California Community Colleges, once a Phases One and Phase Two financial education plan has been adopted and fully implemented on an individual campus. These Phase Three goals and activities may include:
Partnering with local education agencies and other partners to provide financial education to and increase the financial competency of students enrolled in elementary and secondary schools within the communities our school serves
Partnering with community stakeholders and other partners to provide financial education to and increase the financial competency of citizens who live within the communities our school serves
Once we have completed the implementation of these Phase One and Phase Two activities, the College may take steps to revise this plan to create a roadmap to implement Phase Three. Our goal is to be in a position to implement Phase Three during 2016. We have laid out a tentative description of our Phase Three implementation later in this document.
Timeline
The initial plan, to be implemented between September 2014 and December 2015, will be divided into several basic sets of activities, as follows:
Phase One: Getting started
In Phase One, which will commence in October 2014, the College will initiate a series of simple steps and activities designed to create a financial literacy presence across our campus. These key activities will include:
create a financial education implementation team;
make use of this written plan for implementing financial education on our campus;
implementing CashCourse and creating strategies to encourage student engagement with CashCourse resources;
identify campus partners who may assist, in the normal course of daily activities, in delivering financial education materials to students;
identify a series key points in the enrollment cycle during which financial education materials will be disseminated to students;
initiate a financial education collaboration with the College’s student success team; and
initiate a financial education collaboration with the College’s default prevention team (where this applies)
Phase Two: Capacity Building and Integration
In Phase Two, which will begin in November 2014 and accelerate in 2015, we will need to take key initial steps in order to create ‘a culture of financial competence’ on our campus. In order to create a ‘culture of financial competence’, the College will take certain steps to build the intellectual capacity to:
Integrate financial education into our classrooms
Conduct financial education workshops and one-on-one counseling for the College students
Provide training for certain students to become peer-to-peer financial education counselors
Phase Three Financial Education Outreach
Phase three will involve delivering financial education to:
Local education entities
In order to implement phase 3 we will first need to create a cadre of certified financial education professionals. We will create this group of trained financial education professionals through the
Enter your school name here
Financial Education Implementation Plan
Phase One
September – December 2014
The following are a series of activities which will enable the College to fully implement Phase One of this plan:
Action Step #1 Creating a Financial Education Implementation Team
The College will, no later than November 1, 2014, create a financial education task force to implement, oversee and manage its financial literacy efforts. This team will perform an executive and management function for the life of the project.
Make-up of our Financial Education Implementation Team:
The College understands that establishing a task force, while not required for a campus-wide financial literacy effort that reflects the CCCCO’s goals, will increase the likelihood that our efforts will be effective and ultimately successful. We have, as stated above, three broad goals: Increase the financial capability of all students, augment efforts to increase student success and support efforts to reduce student loan default. Our efforts to achieve these goals will have to
correspondingly broad. Accordingly, we will need a financial education team that will create, execute and monitor the effectiveness of the efforts that reflect our broad goals, drawing participation from the entire campus community, as well as representation from among those specific constituencies which are interested in increased student success and reduced loan default. Our efforts to create a broadly representative team have resulted in the inclusion of faculty, as well as staff from student affairs, academic affairs, financial aid, and management.
Here are the members of our financial literacy task force and the area of institutional operation each represents:
Role of Our Financial Education Implementation Team
Our campus-wide financial education team will perform an executive and management function in the financial literacy process, from creating the financial literacy plan for the entire institution to assisting certain key campus stakeholders to devise and implement their own unique financial education efforts.
The team will create an institution-wide financial education strategy, in the form of a written plan, which will address the Chancellor’s and the College’s own financial education objectives. The team may use this document as a template for that plan.
Following are a series of suggested activities that a school should include in a school-level plan: Action Step #2 Implementing and making use of CashCourse
The College financial education team will take steps make the CashCourse website and its various resources available to all students. The team will have participated in a series of webinars conducted by NEFE’s CashCourse support staff and CCCCO staff and consultants. The webinars will describe:
1. the steps the College will need to take to gain functional ACCESS to the CashCourse website 2. how a school can use CashCourse and NEFE resources to PROMOTE CashCourse within the
campus community
3. how a the College can use CashCourse and NEFE resources to SUPPORT the various campus-based financial education activities
The first CashCourse webinar took place on August 28, 2014. A recorded version will be available to schools at http://vimeo.com/104638115. For upcoming CashCourse webinar announcements and sign ups, go here http://info.cashcourse.org/webinar.aspx.
NEFE and CashCourse support staff have developed a Financial Education Toolkit comprised of materials and activities that the College will use to promote CashCourse among out students and which the College will use to support our campus-based financial education activities. The Financial Education Toolkitis attached to our plan as a resource.
Activity
Description
Workshop Kits
PowerPoint presentations and facilitators guides for ten topics Marketing Templates
Fliers, posters, ads, bookmarks. Twitter and Facebook Posts
100 pre-composed social media posts. CashCourse Challenge
Three versions of online scavenger hunts. Assignments
Student assignments, track their participation and scores.
CashCourse Connection monthly e-newsletter with updates, resources and ways to promote financial literacy
Other
To be completed subsequent to the webinar discussing how to promote CashCourse.
Action Step #3 Leveraging Scheduled Events
The team will create a strategy to make financial education materials and experiences available to all students at key points in the general enrollment cycle. The team has met and chosen ‘delivery points’ and materials to be delivered, the time and place in which the intervention will occur, and has assigned responsibility for execution to faculty and/or staff (or office) to carry out the task. The team has
arranged for each responsible person to report back to the team on a monthly basis, advising whether the schedule dissemination occurred and when, how many students received information, and whether the intervention occurred as planned and advising whether adjustments may need to be made to increase effectiveness. The following is a list of those ‘delivery opportunities’ that the College team will leverage during the 2014-2015 school year to ‘push’ financial education information to students, together with the name of the person responsible and the date of the activity:
Activity Person Responsible Date(s) of activity Toolkit Material Used
Note: NEFE has provided, as part of the “Financial Education Toolkit”, financial education materials that the Team will utilize to meet this objective.
Action Step #4 Seeking out and Collaborating with Campus Partners
To assist in increasing the financial capability of all students enrolled in the school, the College financial education team is exploring ways to integrate financial education materials and experiences into many routinely occurring interactions between students and school staff. In this regard, the financial
education team is building relationships with key campus allies and partners that present opportunities to reach student populations that could benefit from financial education. Here is a list of campus partners that have already expressed a willingness to assist in the delivery of financial education to students during routine operation:
Partner Contact Person Material Used from Toolkit
FA Office
Academic affairs (probation) Academic Counseling Office Personal Counseling EOPS/Care
DSPS
Foster Youth Services Veterans Services CalWORKs
Student Support Services
Academic Support/Advisement Center Career Development Office
Trio
The financial education team has taken the following steps to move this process forward:
Established contacts within each of these potential office/partners
Scheduled a first meeting to discuss the goal of collaboration, including the importance of broad campus participation in this effort and the value of including available financial education materials in the potential partner’s specific areas of activity
Exploring, with each campus partner, what information could be delivered to students, when and how financial education material would be delivered to students, and how to integrate available financial education materials into their regular tasks
Once identified, the Team will covey the selected financial education materials to the office involved
The team has established a process enabling these campus partners to provide the team with periodic feedback about the dissemination of materials. This will allow the financial education team to know that the goals of this task are being met; and if not, to initiate discussions about how to adjust dissemination strategies to meet overall objectives. Each campus partner will report back to the team on a monthly basis, indicating the number of students who received information during that month. Our partners will use this monthly reporting to comment on the continuing usefulness of this effort and whether adjustments need to be made
Action Step #5 Collaborating with Student Success Team
The team has established a collaborative relationship with those individuals on campus who are tasked with increasing student success. Research suggests that community college students frequently drop out because of financial worries and/or real financial problems. Financial education can be an effective tool to reduce the likelihood that students will drop out for this reason and instead increase the
likelihood that students will stay in school long enough to complete work on an academic program. The team’s goal is to establish a conversation with the student success team to explore how the financial education team’s inventory of financial education resources (materials and experiences) can be utilized to assist the student success team to meet its twin objectives of increased retention and increased program completion. The following steps are planned for the Fall of 2014:
The Financial Education Team will schedule a meeting with student success team during the Fall of 2014. The goal of this meeting is to discuss how financial education materials might be used to help the student success group achieve its goals.
The student success team, with the assistance of the financial education team, will develop a strategy to deliver financial education to the students served by the student success team. This will include the identification of appropriate financial education materials from the Toolkit.
The financial education team will assist to make sure that the necessary interventions actually occur in the way planned, especially in cases in which other faculty and staff will be needed to participate
The student success team will provide to the financial education team a monthly update about the number of students receiving financial education materials.
Action Step #6 Collaborating with Default Prevention team (if applicable)
During the Fall of 2014 the financial education team will take steps to established a collaborative relationship with those individuals on campus who are tasked with reducing student loan default. Financial education can be an effective tool to reduce the likelihood that students will default on student loans. The team’s goal is to establish collaboration with the College default prevention team to explore how the financial education team’s inventory of financial education resources (Toolkit) can be utilized to assist the default prevention team to meet its objective of reducing student loan default among the college borrowers. The following steps are planned during Fall 2014:
The Financial Education Team will schedule a meeting with the default prevention team during the Fall of 2014. The goal of this meeting is to discuss how financial education materials might be used to help the default prevention team to achieve its goals.
The default prevention team, with the assistance of the financial education team, will develop a strategy to deliver financial education to the students served by the default prevention team. This will include the identification of appropriate financial educational resources from the Toolkit
The financial education team will assist to make sure that the necessary interventions actually occur in the way planned, especially in cases in which other faculty and staff will be needed to achieve the goals of the effort
The default prevention team will provide to the Financial Education team a monthly update about the number of students receiving financial education materials.
The two teams will schedule a monthly meeting through August 2015 to review the efficacy of the strategy and make changes as necessary.
Optional Element:
The College
may,
to increase the likelihood of success in this effort, identify
a financial education liaison whose job it will be to:
a. Lead the financial education implementation team
b. Interface with the CCCCO on project details
Phase Two: Building Financial Education Capacity
November 2014 and continuing
In Phase Two of the school’s financial education effort, the financial education team will focus on steps to develop the capacity to deliver quality and accurate financial education training within the classroom, within a workshop setting, and to deliver special training to certain students, i.e., training student peer-to-peer financial education counselors. This will involve the identification of currently employed individuals who are interested in being trained to become certified financial educators, and who are willing to deliver financial education training to students in a classroom, workshop and other settings at the College.
The CCCCO will arrange for the training of a core group of 60 individuals who will function as primary financial education trainers within the system. The task of this group, once trained and certified, will be to conduct training for all school-level faculty and staff who will be identified by a school to conduct training for students within a particular school or district.
Training (and possible certification) of faculty and staff volunteers from schools that wish to pursue Phase Two activities
The college does wish to expand the school’s financial education activities to include the integration of financial education experiences and material into the classroom, who wish to conduct financial
education workshops for students, and who wish to conduct training for student peer-to-peer financial education counselors who will become part of the financial education delivery system.
The College will be participating in Phase Two activities, although the depth of that involvement has not yet been fully defined. The College will, however, recruit potential financial education trainers from among its faculty and staff beginning in November 2014. The College will support faculty and staff to successfully complete the training offered by the CCCCO. The College will take steps to assure that faculty and staff who successfully complete the training course, will sit for the national certification exam. It is our belief that the education and certification of our volunteers will increase the credibility and effectiveness of our financial education effort.
Action Step #1 Developing the System—Wide Training Team
During November and December 2014, the CCCCO, with the assistance of all schools participating in Phase Two activities, including the College, will conduct a screening process to identify a group of highly motivated and informed individuals who are willing to fulfill a special role in the process of building the school-level capacity to deliver high quality financial education to students. Candidates will be selected based upon academic and/or professional experience. Preference will be given to content matter experts in one or more subject areas to be covered in the training. This group will be the first group to be trained and certified as part of the Phase Two financial education effort. Once trained, this group of 60 individuals will be tasked with conducting internet-based financial education training for 15-20 school-level faculty and staff volunteers from each school that chooses to implement Phase Two
A school does not have to be participating in Phase Two activities in order for a candidate from
that school to be selected as a system-wide trainer.
Action Step #2 Developing Cadre of the school-based Certified Financial Education Trainers
Concurrent with Step One above, the College will take steps to identify 15-20 individuals from the College’s faculty and staff who are interested in becoming certified financial education trainers within the College’s Phase Two effort. These volunteers, once trained, will be tasked with delivering financial education in the classroom, in workshops and in other settings as contemplated by the team to meet its objectives. Here are the steps the College will take to establish a cadre of trained, certified financial education trainers on the College’s campus:
1. The College financial education team will advertise for and identify faculty and staff who wish to become the College-level trained and certified financial education trainers
2. The team will arrange to have these volunteers faculty and staff trained through a process to be established by the Chancellor’s office (more information forthcoming)
3. The College financial education team, working with the CCCCO and other entities, will develop a training plan in which these faculty and staff, once trained, will deliver financial education:
a. In the classroom as part of the classroom, either teaches in specific classes focused only on financial education, or through the addition of financial education material into the
curriculum of existing classes.
b. Conducting workshops focusing on financial education
c. Training students to become peer to peer financial education counselors
Activity #1: Here are the steps the College will take to identify faculty and staff interested in
becoming certified financial education trainers. The team will need to do outreach with faculty and staff in an attempt to recruit 15-20 individuals interested in becoming certified financial education trainers. Screening processes may include:
1. Identifying individuals interested in financial education
2. Individuals who may have prior experience in any of the major topics which will be covered in the training (including budgeting, credit/banking, investments, insurance, consumer credit counseling, general business, real estate/mortgage etc.)
3. Individuals who are willing to participate in a ten-week training program, followed by a certification exam (certification exam optional/cost of exam to be underwritten by individual or school)
4. Individuals, who are willing, once trained, to deliver financial education in a classroom or workshop setting, and are willing to participate in the training of student peer-to-peer financial education counselors.
Activity #2: Getting identified individuals trained:
Details are still being worked out as of this writing and are expected to be finalized by the initiation of Phase Two in November 2014. Currently, it is expected that the training will be conducted in a distance education format, with three classes per week for ten weeks. Upon successful completion of the course individuals will be eligible to take a certification exam. The $50.00 cost of the
certification exam, which is based upon the training material delivered in the ten-week course, will be underwritten by the student and/or the school. This cost will not be underwritten by the Chancellor’s office.
Activity #3: Developing training materials which can be delivered in a classroom setting, in a
free-standing workshop setting, or to be delivered to students seeking to become peer-to-peer financial education counselors.
It is anticipated that a special CCCCO project team will be established, beginning in January 2015, to develop curriculum, workshop materials, and peer-to-peer training materials that all schools may use to meet Phase Two objectives. The development team will be composed of CCCCO
representatives, trained faculty and staff as they become available, and other individuals from both inside and outside the system as might be helpful to completing the task. THE COLLEGE will solicit volunteers willing to participate on this curriculum development team. The development team will begin by identifying training opportunities within existing college curriculum; identifying topics and opportunities to schedule and deliver financial education workshops; and develop and/or adopt content and materials which can be used for training purposes. Additional information about this process will be provided by the chancellor’s office during the late Fall 2014.
Phase Three
Beyond Fall 2015
Since Phase Three will rely on the availability of school-level trained and certified financial educators, Phase Three activities will not commence until a school has fully implemented Phase Two. Once Phase Two has been fully implemented, a school and the financial education implementation team will begin to develop a strategy to deliver financial education to elementary and secondary school students enrolled in school districts served by the college, and to develop and deliver financial education
workshops to residents of communities serviced by the college. It is anticipated that schools will be in a position to implement Phase Three in 2016.
