We share a vision of better informed, educated and more confident citizens, able to take greater responsibility for their financial affairs Our work

 

Further education

Why is it important for students in further education to take control of their finances?

Students from all walks of life face more financial responsibilities than ever before. Striving to complete courses, they already depend on knowing how to maximise their entitlements and where they can seek advice when financial difficulties arise. It is between these two elements that we have been working to see how colleges could begin planning proactive approaches to help their students deal with money issues in a more confident and informed way.

Promoting financial capability to the diverse range of learners in the college sector is particularly important as many young people entering college – often with limited resources – face particular money challenges. After leaving school, young people often have to take independent financial decisions for the first time. Older students returning to education have to juggle financial priorities to enable them to complete their courses and improve their job prospects. In both cases, the financial decisions these students take may have a major bearing on their lives for years to come.

Students more confident about their finances may also be more likely to complete courses and secure sustainable employment. So, simple measures to help prevent students from falling into financial difficulties in the first place may also lead to higher retention rates in colleges. It’s an innovative move towards proactive prevention rather than costly cure.

How colleges can help their learners

Through working in partnership, we hope that at least a quarter of colleges will begin taking a planned approach to their students’ financial capability by 2011. To help colleges achieve this, we have been working in two main ways:

The first has been to raise the profile and status of personal finance education as a context for learning in the curriculum.

This could mean students having opportunities to learn about personal finances alongside other vocational and academic courses. It could also mean using personal finance as contexts for learning in literacy and numeracy provision.

The second has been to develop a free resource called Money for Life through supporting staff in ten colleges across the UK – primarily in student services – during academic year 2007-08. Colleges can use the suggestions for workshop and tutorial activities contained in the CD to give them initial ideas about helping their students deal with money matters in a more informed way, either on its own or used alongside other resources.

The ten colleges helping us develop Money for Life are:

  • Belfast Metropolitan College;
  • City College Norwich;
  • Cornwall College;
  • Edinburgh's Telford College;
  • John Wheatley College, Glasgow;
  • Neath Port Talbot College;
  • Newcastle College;
  • North West Kent College;
  • South Nottingham College; and
  • Tower Hamlets College.

Money for Life is now freely available to all colleges. To download, extract the documents from the ZIP file below. You can then activate Money for Life, by opening the fsa.exe file from your saved version.

Download Money for Life [ZIP]