Proceedings of Annual South Africa Business Research Conference
11 - 12 January 2016, Taj Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa, ISBN: 978-1-922069-95-5
Personal Financial Literacy Pedagogy
Andrea Francis and Rajendra Bhika
The 2014 Council for Economic Education Survey of the States found that only 17 states in the
United States mandate financial literacy education, and only six states require testing of financial
management skills before students can graduate from high school (CEE, 2014). Further, with
student loan debt in the United States above $1 trillion (Bloomberg, 2015), it is apparent that
students have to rely on loans to further their education. Thus, many entering college students
not only face significant financial need, they also may not be equipped with the tools to manage
the resources, which they do have.
At LaGuardia Community College, located in New York City, the 2015 Institutional Profile
indicated that 60.7% of students living with parents have a family income less than $25,000,
while 78.5% of students living away from parents have a family income less than $25,000
(Dickmeyer, Gau, Lenchner, Weintraub, Zhu, 2015). Additionally, New York State does not
require financial literacy education in high schools thereby reducing students' ability to tackle
complex financial issues that could affect them for years to come.
The First Year Seminar for Business (FYS) at LaGuardia, a newly-created course, was
leveraged as a unique opportunity to include personal financial literacy in the business
curriculum. Based on their work in the FYS, the presenters' research question is: Does a
personal financial literacy intervention in the FYS at a low-income two-year institution improve
students' understanding of key financial concepts? Presenters plan to use a mixed methods
research approach consisting of surveys and in-depth interviews.
Presenters will share their research question, literature review, research design and
methodology for this ongoing research. Presenters will also share their personal financial
literacy lesson and activity design and how the pedagogy may help to inform and impact the
practice of faculty and staff across college campuses.
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Andrea Francis, CA (SA), CFA, MS, Assistant Professor - Business & Technology Department, LaGuardia
Community College - City University of New York, USA, Email: afrancis@lagcc.cuny.edu, andreaj7@gmail.com
Rajendra Bhika, CPA, MS, Associate Professor - Business & Technology Department, LaGuardia Community
College - City University of New York, USA, Email: rbhika@lagcc.cuny.edu