Enhancing Financial Education of
U.S. Graduate and Undergraduate Students
A CGS/TIAA-CREF Collaboration
Daniel Denecke, PhD, Associate Vice President,
Programs and Best Practices, Council of Graduate Schools
Betsy Palmer, Senior Vice President,
Communications and Marketing, TIAA-CREF
Program Overview
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Enhancing Student Financial Education
Best Practice Program Overview
• A major intervention into the #1 issue in U.S. higher education and the
economy: Student Debt
• Graduate schools at 15 U.S. Research Partner institutions and 19 Affiliate
institutions part of the solution called for by:
Students, legislators, CAO’s, society, and the public
• Graduate schools ensure innovation and impact through:
Relevance
Student Engagement
Evidence
• Funded by a three‐year grant from TIAA‐CREF
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Participating Institutions
Research Partners/Awardees
Affiliate Partners
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Why now for a national program and the TIAA-CREF/CGS
collaboration?
• Today’s students lack the basic financial education and skills necessary to
manage debt
• Without national momentum behind a solution, the losses that will result are
significant:
- Personal
- Social (knowledge and service sectors)
- National (jobs, and a lost generation of future investors)
• Program provides an opportunity for academic institutions to show they are part
of the solution; the Higher Education community can take good ideas and make
them larger, better, and repeatable
• With deep roots in education, TIAA-CREF is committed to improving the level
of financial literacy in the U.S.
• CGS has the proven ability align institutions to collectively tackle this challenge
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Program goals and objectives
• Develop and deliver high-quality, innovative financial literacy
programs for graduate and undergraduate students
• Assess the impact of those programs
• Integrate financial literacy and debt management skills into graduate
professional development program
• Document best practices in that skills integration
• Promote the broader integration of financial literacy into higher
education programs, including undergraduate programs
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Student debt at a glance
•
7 out of 10 students with bachelor’s had federal
loan debt
•
Average undergraduate student loan debt owed
= $29,400
$29,400
Up from $18,900 in 2002
From 2008 to 2012, debt at graduation (federal and
private loans combined) increased an average of six
percent each year
•
First‐year graduate students in 2011‐12 owed
= $20,749 (federal)
Over 1/3 of these students carry credit card
debt
Over 1/3 carry outstanding federal loan
balances
•
2000
2004
2008
2010
2012
average student debt
Outstanding student loan balances reported on
credit reports increased to $1.1 trillion as of
April 30, 2013, a $31 billion increase from the
previous quarter
Sources, U.S. Dept. of Education, NPSAS 2013 (for 20112-12 year);
Project on Student Debt, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2014
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Student Debt Now Carries the Highest Delinquency Rate
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Student Debt Second Only to Mortgage Debt
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Student Debt Crisis in the News
Obama’s plan to address the
$1.2 trillion student debt
problem
Student Debt
Relief for
Adjuncts Bill
How The $1.2 Trillion College
Debt Crisis Is Crippling
Students, Parents And
The Economy
Record Student-Loan Debt
Prompts Treasury Push to
Stem Defaults
How Today's Student Loan
Debt Is Failing
Future Generations
Many Millennials Expect
To Spend Decades Paying
For College
Kirsten
Gillibrand Aims
To Jumpstart
Student Loan
Refinancings
With New Bill
Don't call it 'student'
debt
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Who is the real Gen Y?
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Understanding Gen Y
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Understanding Gen Y
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Understanding Gen Y
Time magazine – 2013
“The Me, Me, Me Generation”
On Gen Y: “lazy, entitled, selfish,
and shallow… narcissistic
personality disorder is nearly three
times as high for people in their
20s”
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Understanding Gen Y
Time | 1990
“twentysomething”
On Gen X: “They would rather
hike in the Himalayas than climb a
corporate ladder… the 18-to-29
group scornfully rejects the habits
and values of the baby boomers.”
New York | 1976
“The Me Decade”
On Boomers: “They begin with . .
. “Let’s talk about Me.” They
begin with the most delicious
look inward; with considerable
narcissism”
The Atlantic Monthly | 1907
“Why American Marriages
Fail”
On the Lost Generation: “The
latter-day cult of individualism;
the worship of the brazen calf
of the Self."
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Understanding Gen Y
Gen Y Financial Realities
and Decision-Making
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Understanding Gen Y
Many Gen Ys are financially cautious—
saving what they can, delaying life milestones
86%
86% of Gen Y
feels that
savings are
part of their
“definition of
success.”
(The Futures Company,
2012)
30%
Average Gen Y
credit card debt is
down 30% since
2007
(FICO analysis, Jan 2013)
37%
Home ownership
rate for 25-34
year olds, down
from 47% prerecession
(US Census Bureau, 2011)
Average age of
first home
purchase: 31
45%
45% of recent
college grads
moving back
home for
stronger
financial
footing; up from
31% ten years
ago.
(Pew Research, 2013)
(Nat’l Association of Realtors,
2011)
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Understanding Gen Y
Job opportunities are limited
53%
underemployment
10.9%
unemployment
Source: The Atlantic, 2012
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Understanding Gen Y
In early
retirement
decisions,
Gen Y chooses the
path of least
resistance
58%
46%
Of Gen Ys default
into retirement plans
Say they’ll never trust
the stock market
Sources: TIAA-CREF Institute analysis, Richardson,
2013; MFS Investor Sentiment Survey, 2013
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Starting Your Financial Life –
TIAA-CREF Website for New Employees
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Enhancing Student Financial Education
Financial Perspectives Student Survey
Preliminary Findings
Source: U.N., Department of Economic and Social Affairs
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Student Financial Perspectives Survey,
Pre-intervention (Fall 2013)
• Roughly 13,500 responses from 15 institutions.
• More than half (54%) of respondents were enrolled in a master’s.
• About one-third (36%) of respondents were enrolled in a PhD.
• Nine percent of survey respondents were enrolled in neither a master’s nor a
PhD program.
Preliminary findings, CGS Survey of Financial Perspectives, Fall 2013
Preliminary findings, CGS Survey of Financial Perspectives, Fall 2013
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Where do graduate students go for answers to financial
questions?
General Financial Issues
• One-third go to parents/family and spouses/partners first.
• About one in five use media, such as the internet, books, and news.
• About one in ten have not sought information on these topics.
Managing Student Debt
• Roughly two-in-five respondents indicated that they reach out first to
parents/family or partner/spouse.
• About one-third of respondents have not sought answers to questions about
student debt.
Preliminary findings, CGS Survey of Financial Perspectives, Fall 2013
Preliminary findings, CGS Survey of Financial Perspectives, Fall 2013
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Do Students Already Participate in University Financial Education
Activities?
•
Less than half had attended a course/workshop/speaker series, etc. on managing
personal finances.
•
Only about one-third were aware of counseling/consultation, programs, seminars, and/or
courses in general personal financial education available to them at their institution.
•
Only a very small percentage have participated in these kinds of financial education
offerings.
•
Only one-in-five are aware of courses, workshops, webinars, brown bag lunches, etc.
that specifically address graduate student personal finance issues.
•
Only a very small percentage of respondents have participated in these activities.
Preliminary findings, CGS Survey of Financial Perspectives, Fall 2013
Preliminary findings, CGS Survey of Financial Perspectives, Fall 2013
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Student Engagement and
Sample Programs
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“App”-like
menu
navigation
for easy access
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The future you envision is within your reach.
Planning ahead can help get you there.
Three user
selections
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Debt data
(NPSAS, U.S. Dept. of Ed)
Salary data
(NSCG, National
Science Foundation)
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Link to
O*Net tool
to explore
BLS data
Bureau of
Labor
Statistics
Data (BLS),
May 2012
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Infographics
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Social media promotion
Facebook
facebook.com/gradsense
Twitter
@GradSense
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GradSense
embedded in
existing
university
programs and
channels
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Testing and evaluating a variety of programs, with common goals,
to develop best practices
A few examples:
Financial ed website launched;
Integrating fined with freshman
year experience program; Peerled workshops working with Phi
Beta Lambda Future Business
Leaders of America
Developing video series for
YouTube; Integrating with
Freshman Experience Program
Held campus-wide improv
comedy show with Second-City
Alumna: What’s so Funny About
Money; Collaborating on a
financial literacy video game;
Multiple student workshops on
education funding and financing
conducted
Expanding undergraduate programs to
graduate level; Increasing peer-to-peer
and online resources; Established
Graduate Student Financial
Ambassadors program
Establishing the Literacy in Financial
Education (LIFE) Center; Freshman
capture course now includes financial
education; RAs bringing conversations to
the dorms
Special emphasis on first-generation
higher ed students, online modules for
incoming freshman and their parents,
training TA’s
Developing “Go Live” program, taking
print content to live mini workshops on
financial matters
Online gaming tool
in development
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Questions?
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