Classification: Four-year private college or university.

Modules Used:

• Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students.
• Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial Obligations.

How Used: Freshman seminar.

Program Description: The registrar and the director of financial aid are credited with initiating a financial-literacy strategy at Lake Erie College. They developed a partnership with the freshman-seminar instructors who now include a one-hour session about financial awareness each term. An external financial-aid professional integrates USA Funds^® Life Skills^® Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students and Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial Obligations into the presentations, which focus on budgeting, credit reports, credit-card dos and don'ts, and identity theft. The sessions are highly interactive and competitive, with students vying for prizes provided by the presenter.

Staffing Requirements: An external financial-aid professional delivers Modules 1 and 2 to students in the freshman seminar.

Recommendations: Financial literacy needs to be a campus-wide effort. The director of financial aid recommends partnering with other offices as a strategy for launching the initiative. Every effort should be made to involve senior administrators in the effort.

Campus Contact:
Tricia Canfield, Director of Financial Aid
Phone: (440) 375-7100
E-mail: pcanfield@iec.edu