Hey colleges—did you know that many of your incoming students are unprepared to successfully manage their finances, continuing a trend of financial illiteracy in our nation’s youth that has been consistent over the past decade? A recent report by USA Today evidenced this lack of financial literacy with shocking statistics:
“The Treasury Department and Department of Education have teamed…to assess financial literacy in U.S. high schools…the average score of almost 76,900 students in 2010 was 70%. Last year’s testing of about 84,000 students and this years of about 80,000 students were both a point lower: 69%… A biennial survey by Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, conducted from 1997 to 2008, showed high school seniors doing even worse. In 1997, the average score on a 31-question financial literacy exam given as part of the survey was 57.3%. In 2008, the average score was at its lowest ever, 48.3%.”
(Test your knowledge and take our Financial Literacy and Credit Cards Survey.)
What Financial Illiteracy Means in the Big Picture
The implications of these high schooler’s low test scores becomes increasingly significant when placed within the context of the environment that young adults now face after graduation: a competitive job market, rising personal debt, and a complex, credit-dependent world economy that puts huge pressures on students and graduates to plan and manage their financial future. The big picture repercussions of the nation’s financial literacy deficiency are reflected in correlating statistics found in the 20-29 year old demographic:
- $25,000: Average student loan debt for class of 2010 (The Project on Student Debt)
- $45,000: Average debt for those 20-29; includes everything from cars to credit cards to student loans to mortgages (PNC financial independence survey, March)
- $1,800: Average credit card debt for those 20-29 (PNC financial independence survey, March)
- 12.4%: Unemployment rate for those 18-29, well above the national rate of 8.2%; (BLS data, March)
- 13: States that require high school students to take a personal finance class (Survey of the States, 2011)
- 60%: 18- to 34 year-olds not keeping a budget (NFCC financial literacy survey, 2012)
Here's How iGrad Can Help...
Now, more than ever, it is important to encourage financial literacy by empowering our nations’ students with the educational tools and resources necessary to strengthen their understanding of proper money management habits and prepare them for a successful future of financial health. That’s where iGrad comes in. Our comprehensive financial capability platform offers loan counseling, money management skills and career services to students in an interactive, online community; by creating an environment that allows students to understand their finances on a big-picture scale, we give them the power to make sound life decisions in this arena. iGrad is passionate about the many partnerships we have with nationwide colleges and universities and are excited about the prospects of helping more and more schools offer their students the best in financial literacy.
Feel free to contact us with any questions about iGrad’s industry-leading financial literacy platform or check out our School Demo Video to discover how iGrad can partner with your school to offer your students the financial literacy they deserve!
