Program Title: HIGH SCHOOL FINANCIAL PLANNING PROGRAM

Theme: Participating in the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program® improves teens’ financial knowledge, behavior, and confidence.

The Challenge: Young people have control over (and influence the use of) considerable amounts of money and will continue to do so throughout their lives, yet studies continue to suggest that teens lack basic economic and money management skills. Results from a recent nationwide survey (Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, 2004) indicate that on average, the 12^th graders surveyed could only answer 52.3% of the questions correctly (on topics such as income, money management, saving, and spending). Oklahoma youth need to be offered adequate opportunities to learn and practice basic financial management skills in order to function and prosper in this complex, ever-changing world.

Extension’s The NEFE High School Financial Planning Program (HSFPP) is a six-unit program

Response: developed by the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE) and available to schools free-of-charge. It is designed to help teach high school students about the basics of sound money management. Curriculum materials include a Student Guide and an Instructor’s Manual. A NEFE web portal and a web-based Teen Resource Bureau also support the program.

Since 1990, the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service has partnered with the National Endowment for Financial Education to assist high school teachers and other educators with the planning, implementation, and promotion of the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program. A more recent partner is the Credit Union National Association, Inc. and America’s Credit Unions.

During calendar year 2005, HSFPP Student Guides were sent to some 5,615 students in 104 classrooms in Oklahoma. During the same time period, the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program was utilized in 50 states and Washington, D.C., with 631,270 HSFPP Students Guides sent to students in 7,389 classrooms.

Outcome: Students who participated in the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program significantly improved their financial knowledge, behavior, and confidence, according to a nationwide evaluation conducted during the 2003-2004 academic year. Students also improved their financial behavior in the following months

Impact: Dr. Sharon Danes, a professor at the University of Minnesota, conducted the evaluation. A series of questions were posed to students at three points in time: 1) immediately after completing the program, 2) in relation to what they knew before participating in the program, and 3) for a smaller group of students, three months later. For example, before studying the HSFPP, 18.5 percent of the students “almost always” set aside money for future needs and wants. The percentages increased to 28 after the program and to 36.5 three months later. The number of students who said they “almost always” set goals for managing money rose from nine percent before the program to 15 percent immediately after the program and to 24 percent three months later.

Other results indicated that before studying the program, 42 percent of students said they “strongly agreed” they knew the difference between needs and wants. The number grew to 67 percent after the program and to 80.5 percent three months later. Similarly, 19 percent of students said they “almost always” felt confident about making financial decisions before studying the HSFPP. The number increased to 29 percent after the program and 37.5 percent in the three-month follow-up.

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* Reference: “Teens Respond Well to Financial Education, Study Shows,” National Endowment for Financial Education, November, 2004. A complete copy of the evaluation is available at the NEFE Web site (www.nefe.org) in the Education Programs section.

Collaborating organizations, agencies, and teaching, research, extension partnerships:

National Endowment for Financial Education; Credit Union National Association, Inc. and America’s Credit Unions; Oklahoma Jump$tart Coalition; Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education; Oklahoma high schools

Date Posted: February 2006

Contact: Joyce E. Jones, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Personal Finance Specialist Voice: 405.744.7186

Department of Design, Housing, and Merchandising Fax: 405.744.6910

College of Human Environmental Sciences

431 HES, Oklahoma State University Email: joyce.jones@okstate.edu

Stillwater, OK 74078-6111 Web: http://fcs.okstate.edu/money