For most students, college is seen as an opportunity to continue their formal education and prepare for the intended career goals. But attending college also provides an opportunity for students to further develop their life skills, such as time management, interpersonal skills, as well as their money management skills or "financial literacy".

Financial Literacy is a persons understanding of their own personal financial standing. In addition, it is one's knowledge of money management skills to make smart economic decisions to foster a strong personal financial foundation.

Basic Financial Literacy Topics

• Budgeting
• Student Borrowing
• Credit Cards

Articles

• "Abusing Student Loans and 11 Other College Money Mistakes", (moneywatch.com), March 17, 2011.
  
  
• "Student Loans: How Excessive Debt Limits Career Options", (moneywatch.com), March 14, 2011.
  
  
• "Are you borrowing too much for college?", (cnnmoney.com), July 12, 2010.
  
  
• "11 Steps to Relief From Federal Student Loans", (usnews.com), May 10, 2010.
  
  
• "Money makeover: In debt after college", (LATimes.com), April 25, 2010.
  
  
• "Fed's Duke Says Financial Literacy Should Be School Requirement", (Bloomberg.com), April 8, 2010.
  
  
• "Student loan demand at record high", (reuters.com), January 21, 2010.
  
  
• "Majority of college dropouts cite financial struggles as main cause", (washingtonpost.com), December 9, 2009.
  
  
• "Paying off student loans requires smart decisions", (latimes.com), December 6, 2009.
  
  
• "Recent College Grads Face Record Debt and Unemployment", (projectonstudentdebt.org), December 1, 2009.
  
  
• "College Graduates Struggle To Repay Loans", (npr.org), November 23, 2009.
  
  
• "Kiss Those Student Loans Goodbye", (businessweek.com), September 10, 2009
  
  
• "Financial Literacy: Reaching the College Crowd", (businessweek.com), July 26, 2009
  
  
• "What To Do When You Can't Pay Student Loans", (Bankrate.com), June 9, 2009
  
  
• "How Much Money Should I Borrow for College?", U.S. News & World Report, June 9, 2009
  
  
• "Students should avoid debt", Atlanta Journal Constitution, June 7, 2009
  
  
• "Student debt and defaults surge", Christian Science Monitor, April 7, 2009
  
  
• "How to minimize your student loan debt", Next Step Magazine, April 2009.
  
  
• "Many college students face mountain of debt once they graduate", Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, March 29, 2009

Resources

• CARE Program: The Credit Abuse Resistance Education Program is a free financial literacy program which makes bankruptcy professionals available to educators, students and the public to illuminate the dangers of credit abuse.
  
  
• Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Rochester: The CCCS of Rochester is a non-profit community service agency dedicated to educating and empowering individuals and families to take control of their financial lives.
  
  
• HESC Smart Borrowing: HESC provides guidelines on borrowing student loans, budgeting calculators, and other financial literacy tools.
  
  
• Mapping Your Future: Mapping Your Future's "Manage your money" program provides resources on budgeting, credit cards, identity theft, and other Financial Literacy topics.
  
  
• MyMoney.gov: The Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC) has created a financial literacy education website that enables users will to find information about how to plan for a multitude of life events that have financial implications, such as birth or adoption of a child, home ownership, or retirement. The site also provides money management tools including a financial savings calculator, worksheets for establishing a household budget and a college preparation checklist.
  
  
• NSLP Financial Literacy Online: The National Student Loan Program's financial literacy program offers free online courses to help students with budgeting, credit history, identity theft, and other additional topics.