Financial Literacy Project Implementation Plan
For
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Overview
This financial literacy plan is being created as a vehicle to increase financial literacy at the College, as
part of the California Community the College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) effort to increase financial
literacy across the entire California Community College System and within the communities in which
schools are located.
The CCCCO effort has laid out a number of broad objectives for implementing financial education at the
individual school level, to be articulated and executed in Phase One and Phase Two of this effort,
including:
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Increasing financial capability for all students enrolled in the system; and,
Reducing student loan default rates; and,
Increasing student success and program completion; and,
Creating a culture of financial competence on each campus.
The CCCCO has also established a series of secondary, Phase Three, outward-looking goals for pursuit by
California Community Colleges, once a Phases One and Phase Two financial education plan has been
adopted and fully implemented on an individual campus. These Phase Three goals and activities may
include:
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Partnering with local education agencies and other partners to provide financial education to
and increase the financial competency of students enrolled in elementary and secondary
schools within the communities our school serves
Partnering with community stakeholders and other partners to provide financial education to
and increase the financial competency of citizens who live within the communities our school
serves
The purpose of this plan will be to describe, first, the Phase One and Phase Two efforts the College will
take to reach the CCCCO goals of increasing the financial capability of all students enrolled at the
College; of utilizing financial education strategies and activities to augment the student success goals of
the College; and, since the College does participate in the Federal Direct Loan program, to utilize
financial education strategies and activities to reduce the likelihood that the College student loan
borrowers will default on their the College loans.
Once we have completed the implementation of these Phase One and Phase Two activities, the College
may take steps to revise this plan to create a roadmap to implement Phase Three. Our goal is to be in a
position to implement Phase Three during 2016. We have laid out a tentative description of our Phase
Three implementation later in this document.
Timeline
The initial plan, to be implemented between September 2014 and December 2015, will be divided into
several basic sets of activities, as follows:
Phase One: Getting started
In Phase One, which will commence in October 2014, the College will initiate a series of simple steps and
activities designed to create a financial literacy presence across our campus. These key activities will
include:
 create a financial education implementation team;
 make use of this written plan for implementing financial education on our campus;
 implementing CashCourse and creating strategies to encourage student engagement with
CashCourse resources;
 identify campus partners who may assist, in the normal course of daily activities, in delivering
financial education materials to students;
 identify a series key points in the enrollment cycle during which financial education materials
will be disseminated to students;
 initiate a financial education collaboration with the College’s student success team; and
 initiate a financial education collaboration with the College’s default prevention team (where
this applies)
Phase Two: Capacity Building and Integration
In Phase Two, which will begin in November 2014 and accelerate in 2015, we will need to take key initial
steps in order to create ‘a culture of financial competence’ on our campus. In order to create a ‘culture
of financial competence’, the College will take certain steps to build the intellectual capacity to:
 Integrate financial education into our classrooms
 Conduct financial education workshops and one-on-one counseling for the College students
 Provide training for certain students to become peer-to-peer financial education counselors
Phase Three Financial Education Outreach
Phase three will involve delivering financial education to:
 Local education entities
 Individuals who live in the communities in which the College is located
In order to implement phase 3 we will first need to create a cadre of certified financial education
professionals. We will create this group of trained financial education professionals through the
implementation of Phase 2 above. Once we have fully implemented Phase 2, we will revisit Phase 3 and
explore how the College might provide useful financial education within our local community.
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Financial Education Implementation Plan
Phase One
September – December 2014
The following are a series of activities which will enable the College to fully implement Phase One of this
plan:
Action Step #1 Creating a Financial Education Implementation Team
The College will, no later than November 1, 2014, create a financial education task force to implement,
oversee and manage its financial literacy efforts. This team will perform an executive and management
function for the life of the project.
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Make-up of our Financial Education Implementation Team:
The College understands that establishing a task force, while not required for a campus-wide
financial literacy effort that reflects the CCCCO’s goals, will increase the likelihood that our efforts
will be effective and ultimately successful. We have, as stated above, three broad goals: Increase
the financial capability of all students, augment efforts to increase student success and support
efforts to reduce student loan default. Our efforts to achieve these goals will have to
correspondingly broad. Accordingly, we will need a financial education team that will create,
execute and monitor the effectiveness of the efforts that reflect our broad goals, drawing
participation from the entire campus community, as well as representation from among those
specific constituencies which are interested in increased student success and reduced loan default.
Our efforts to create a broadly representative team have resulted in the inclusion of faculty, as well
as staff from student affairs, academic affairs, financial aid, and management.
Here are the members of our financial literacy task force and the area of institutional operation each
represents:
Name
Area of Institutional Representation
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Role of Our Financial Education Implementation Team
Our campus-wide financial education team will perform an executive and management function in
the financial literacy process, from creating the financial literacy plan for the entire institution to
assisting certain key campus stakeholders to devise and implement their own unique financial
education efforts.
The team will create an institution-wide financial education strategy, in the form of a written plan,
which will address the Chancellor’s and the College’s own financial education objectives. The team
may use this document as a template for that plan.
Following are a series of suggested activities that a school should include in a school-level plan:
Action Step #2
Implementing and making use of CashCourse
The College financial education team will take steps make the CashCourse website and its various
resources available to all students. The team will have participated in a series of webinars conducted by
NEFE’s CashCourse support staff and CCCCO staff and consultants. The webinars will describe:
1. the steps the College will need to take to gain functional ACCESS to the CashCourse website
2. how a school can use CashCourse and NEFE resources to PROMOTE CashCourse within the
campus community
3. how a the College can use CashCourse and NEFE resources to SUPPORT the various
campus-based financial education activities
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The first CashCourse webinar took place on August 28, 2014. A recorded version will be available to
schools at http://vimeo.com/104638115. For upcoming CashCourse webinar announcements and
sign ups, go here http://info.cashcourse.org/webinar.aspx.
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NEFE and CashCourse support staff have developed a Financial Education Toolkit comprised of
materials and activities that the College will use to promote CashCourse among out students and
which the College will use to support our campus-based financial education activities. The Financial
Education Toolkit is attached to our plan as a resource.
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Selecting relevant information included in the attached Financial Education Toolkit, as well as
suggestions made at the CashCourse website and information provided during the NEFE staff
webinar, we have identified a series of steps we will take beginning in the Fall of 2014 to promote
Cashcourse among the College students. Here are the steps we will be taking:
Activity
Description
Workshop Kits
PowerPoint presentations and facilitators guides for ten topics
Marketing Templates
Twitter and Facebook Posts
CashCourse Challenge
Assignments
Fliers, posters, ads, bookmarks.
100 pre-composed social media posts.
Three versions of online scavenger hunts.
Student assignments, track their participation and scores.
CashCourse Connection
monthly e-newsletter with updates, resources and ways to promote
financial literacy
Other
To be completed subsequent to the webinar discussing how to promote CashCourse.
Action Step #3
Leveraging Scheduled Events
The team will create a strategy to make financial education materials and experiences available to all
students at key points in the general enrollment cycle. The team has met and chosen ‘delivery points’
and materials to be delivered, the time and place in which the intervention will occur, and has assigned
responsibility for execution to faculty and/or staff (or office) to carry out the task. The team has
arranged for each responsible person to report back to the team on a monthly basis, advising whether
the schedule dissemination occurred and when, how many students received information, and whether
the intervention occurred as planned and advising whether adjustments may need to be made to
increase effectiveness. The following is a list of those ‘delivery opportunities’ that the College team will
leverage during the 2014-2015 school year to ‘push’ financial education information to students,
together with the name of the person responsible and the date of the activity:
Activity
Application
Admissions
Orientation
Disbursement of funds
Registration
Placement on Academic
Probation
Entrance Counseling
Exit Counseling
Other
Person Responsible
Date(s) of activity
Toolkit Material Used
Note: NEFE has provided, as part of the “Financial Education Toolkit”, financial education materials that
the Team will utilize to meet this objective.
Action Step #4
Seeking out and Collaborating with Campus Partners
To assist in increasing the financial capability of all students enrolled in the school, the College financial
education team is exploring ways to integrate financial education materials and experiences into many
routinely occurring interactions between students and school staff. In this regard, the financial
education team is building relationships with key campus allies and partners that present opportunities
to reach student populations that could benefit from financial education. Here is a list of campus
partners that have already expressed a willingness to assist in the delivery of financial education to
students during routine operation:
Partner
FA Office
Academic affairs (probation)
Academic Counseling Office
Personal Counseling
EOPS/Care
DSPS
Foster Youth Services
Veterans Services
CalWORKs
Student Support Services
Academic Support/Advisement Center
Career Development Office
Trio
Remedial Education
Contact Person
Material Used from Toolkit
The financial education team has taken the following steps to move this process forward:
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Established contacts within each of these potential office/partners
Scheduled a first meeting to discuss the goal of collaboration, including the importance of broad
campus participation in this effort and the value of including available financial education materials
in the potential partner’s specific areas of activity
Exploring, with each campus partner, what information could be delivered to students, when and
how financial education material would be delivered to students, and how to integrate available
financial education materials into their regular tasks
Once identified, the Team will covey the selected financial education materials to the office involved
The team has established a process enabling these campus partners to provide the team with
periodic feedback about the dissemination of materials. This will allow the financial education team
to know that the goals of this task are being met; and if not, to initiate discussions about how to
adjust dissemination strategies to meet overall objectives. Each campus partner will report back to
the team on a monthly basis, indicating the number of students who received information during
that month. Our partners will use this monthly reporting to comment on the continuing usefulness
of this effort and whether adjustments need to be made
Action Step #5 Collaborating with Student Success Team
The team has established a collaborative relationship with those individuals on campus who are tasked
with increasing student success. Research suggests that community college students frequently drop
out because of financial worries and/or real financial problems. Financial education can be an effective
tool to reduce the likelihood that students will drop out for this reason and instead increase the
likelihood that students will stay in school long enough to complete work on an academic program. The
team’s goal is to establish a conversation with the student success team to explore how the financial
education team’s inventory of financial education resources (materials and experiences) can be utilized
to assist the student success team to meet its twin objectives of increased retention and increased
program completion. The following steps are planned for the Fall of 2014:
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The Financial Education Team will schedule a meeting with student success team during the Fall of
2014. The goal of this meeting is to discuss how financial education materials might be used to help
the student success group achieve its goals.
The student success team, with the assistance of the financial education team, will develop a
strategy to deliver financial education to the students served by the student success team. This will
include the identification of appropriate financial education materials from the Toolkit.
The financial education team will assist to make sure that the necessary interventions actually occur
in the way planned, especially in cases in which other faculty and staff will be needed to participate
The student success team will provide to the financial education team a monthly update about the
number of students receiving financial education materials.
The two teams will schedule a monthly meeting through August 2015 to review the efficacy of the
strategy and make changes as necessary.
Action Step #6 Collaborating with Default Prevention team (if applicable)
During the Fall of 2014 the financial education team will take steps to established a collaborative
relationship with those individuals on campus who are tasked with reducing student loan default.
Financial education can be an effective tool to reduce the likelihood that students will default on
student loans. The team’s goal is to establish collaboration with the College default prevention team to
explore how the financial education team’s inventory of financial education resources (Toolkit) can be
utilized to assist the default prevention team to meet its objective of reducing student loan default
among the college borrowers. The following steps are planned during Fall 2014:
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The Financial Education Team will schedule a meeting with the default prevention team during the
Fall of 2014. The goal of this meeting is to discuss how financial education materials might be used
to help the default prevention team to achieve its goals.
The default prevention team, with the assistance of the financial education team, will develop a
strategy to deliver financial education to the students served by the default prevention team. This
will include the identification of appropriate financial educational resources from the Toolkit
The financial education team will assist to make sure that the necessary interventions actually occur
in the way planned, especially in cases in which other faculty and staff will be needed to achieve the
goals of the effort
The default prevention team will provide to the Financial Education team a monthly update about
the number of students receiving financial education materials.
The two teams will schedule a monthly meeting through August 2015 to review the efficacy of the
strategy and make changes as necessary.
Optional Element: The College may, to increase the likelihood of success in this effort, identify
a financial education liaison whose job it will be to:
a. Lead the financial education implementation team
b. Interface with the CCCCO on project details
c. Interface with outside entities with whom the school may choose to work to
reach its financial education goals
Phase Two: Building Financial Education Capacity
November 2014 and continuing
In Phase Two of the school’s financial education effort, the financial education team will focus on steps
to develop the capacity to deliver quality and accurate financial education training within the classroom,
within a workshop setting, and to deliver special training to certain students, i.e., training student peerto-peer financial education counselors. This will involve the identification of currently employed
individuals who are interested in being trained to become certified financial educators, and who are
willing to deliver financial education training to students in a classroom, workshop and other settings at
the College.
The CCCCO will arrange for the training of a core group of 60 individuals who will function as primary
financial education trainers within the system. The task of this group, once trained and certified, will be
to conduct training for all school-level faculty and staff who will be identified by a school to conduct
training for students within a particular school or district.
Training (and possible certification) of faculty and staff volunteers from schools that wish to pursue
Phase Two activities
The college does wish to expand the school’s financial education activities to include the integration of
financial education experiences and material into the classroom, who wish to conduct financial
education workshops for students, and who wish to conduct training for student peer-to-peer financial
education counselors who will become part of the financial education delivery system.
The College will be participating in Phase Two activities, although the depth of that involvement has not
yet been fully defined. The College will, however, recruit potential financial education trainers from
among its faculty and staff beginning in November 2014. The College will support faculty and staff to
successfully complete the training offered by the CCCCO. The College will take steps to assure that
faculty and staff who successfully complete the training course, will sit for the national certification
exam. It is our belief that the education and certification of our volunteers will increase the credibility
and effectiveness of our financial education effort.
Action Step #1 Developing the System—Wide Training Team
During November and December 2014, the CCCCO, with the assistance of all schools participating in
Phase Two activities, including the College, will conduct a screening process to identify a group of highly
motivated and informed individuals who are willing to fulfill a special role in the process of building the
school-level capacity to deliver high quality financial education to students. Candidates will be selected
based upon academic and/or professional experience. Preference will be given to content matter
experts in one or more subject areas to be covered in the training. This group will be the first group to
be trained and certified as part of the Phase Two financial education effort. Once trained, this group of
60 individuals will be tasked with conducting internet-based financial education training for 15-20
school-level faculty and staff volunteers from each school that chooses to implement Phase Two
activities as part of a financial education plan. The College will support and encourage any faculty and
staff who wish to become Phase Two system-level and school-level trainers.
A school does not have to be participating in Phase Two activities in order for a candidate from
that school to be selected as a system-wide trainer.
Action Step #2 Developing Cadre of the school-based Certified Financial Education Trainers
Concurrent with Step One above, the College will take steps to identify 15-20 individuals from the
College’s faculty and staff who are interested in becoming certified financial education trainers within
the College’s Phase Two effort. These volunteers, once trained, will be tasked with delivering financial
education in the classroom, in workshops and in other settings as contemplated by the team to meet its
objectives. Here are the steps the College will take to establish a cadre of trained, certified financial
education trainers on the College’s campus:
1. The College financial education team will advertise for and identify faculty and staff who wish to
become the College-level trained and certified financial education trainers
2. The team will arrange to have these volunteers faculty and staff trained through a process to be
established by the Chancellor’s office (more information forthcoming)
3. The College financial education team, working with the CCCCO and other entities, will develop a
training plan in which these faculty and staff, once trained, will deliver financial education:
a. In the classroom as part of the classroom, either teaches in specific classes focused only on
financial education, or through the addition of financial education material into the
curriculum of existing classes.
b. Conducting workshops focusing on financial education
c. Training students to become peer to peer financial education counselors
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Activity #1: Here are the steps the College will take to identify faculty and staff interested in
becoming certified financial education trainers. The team will need to do outreach with faculty and
staff in an attempt to recruit 15-20 individuals interested in becoming certified financial education
trainers. Screening processes may include:
1. Identifying individuals interested in financial education
2. Individuals who may have prior experience in any of the major topics which will be covered
in the training (including budgeting, credit/banking, investments, insurance, consumer
credit counseling, general business, real estate/mortgage etc.)
3. Individuals who are willing to participate in a ten-week training program, followed by a
certification exam (certification exam optional/cost of exam to be underwritten by
individual or school)
4. Individuals, who are willing, once trained, to deliver financial education in a classroom or
workshop setting, and are willing to participate in the training of student peer-to-peer
financial education counselors.
5. Individuals, who, once trained, are willing to work with the financial education team to
develop classroom presentations, workshops, and peer-to-peer training material using the
content of the training program in which they participated
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Activity #2: Getting identified individuals trained:
Details are still being worked out as of this writing and are expected to be finalized by the initiation
of Phase Two in November 2014. Currently, it is expected that the training will be conducted in a
distance education format, with three classes per week for ten weeks. Upon successful completion
of the course individuals will be eligible to take a certification exam. The $50.00 cost of the
certification exam, which is based upon the training material delivered in the ten-week course, will
be underwritten by the student and/or the school. This cost will not be underwritten by the
Chancellor’s office.
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Activity #3: Developing training materials which can be delivered in a classroom setting, in a freestanding workshop setting, or to be delivered to students seeking to become peer-to-peer financial
education counselors.
It is anticipated that a special CCCCO project team will be established, beginning in January 2015, to
develop curriculum, workshop materials, and peer-to-peer training materials that all schools may
use to meet Phase Two objectives. The development team will be composed of CCCCO
representatives, trained faculty and staff as they become available, and other individuals from both
inside and outside the system as might be helpful to completing the task. THE COLLEGE will solicit
volunteers willing to participate on this curriculum development team. The development team will
begin by identifying training opportunities within existing college curriculum; identifying topics and
opportunities to schedule and deliver financial education workshops; and develop and/or adopt
content and materials which can be used for training purposes. Additional information about this
process will be provided by the chancellor’s office during the late Fall 2014.
Phase Three
Beyond Fall 2015
Since Phase Three will rely on the availability of school-level trained and certified financial educators,
Phase Three activities will not commence until a school has fully implemented Phase Two. Once Phase
Two has been fully implemented, a school and the financial education implementation team will begin
to develop a strategy to deliver financial education to elementary and secondary school students
enrolled in school districts served by the college, and to develop and deliver financial education
workshops to residents of communities serviced by the college. It is anticipated that schools will be in a
position to implement Phase Three in 2016.
To support this effort, the CCCCO will establish a project team in the Fall of 2015 tasked with developing
training materials that a school can use for the training of students in a local school district, and for use
in training residents of communities served by the College. Faculty and staff from across the system
who will be trained and certified in Phase two will be invited to participate in the development of Phase
Three training material.