Video phones have
been a staple of science fiction for decades. Most of us have come to
understand that video phones will never become the norm, simply because
there are far too many circumstances in which we answer the phone but
would never want anyone to actually see what we look like at the moment,
or where we are. That being said, the video phone has its place, and
what better place than the living room. There are few better uses in the
home for a video phone or teleconference system than for communicating
with far-flung friends and family and the living room provides a space
where the entire family can congregate and interact with the biggest
screen in the house. At $199, the Biscotti TV Phone strives to be an
inexpensive way of integrating video teleconferencing into the home
theater. Every call on the Biscotti TV Phone is free, but is every call
worth making?
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In
a partnership with National Educators Council, Penn State Erie is
taking part in the Financial EduNation Campaign. Starting in April 2012,
the college will be providing free personal finance programs to
students, parents, educators, and other organizations throughout the
state as their part of promoting the campaign. Aimed at teens and young
adults, the programs are completed online through a program that
features celebrities, business leaders, and sports stars. So far, the
school has reached out to more than 25,000 students in middle school
through college, but they hope to expand the program during the coming
month.
Students
at this business school can get a crash-course in financial education
in a sophomore course taught by Professor Brian Jbara. Jbara has
reported an increased interest in his course in recent years, as
students worried about a poor job market, student loan debt, and a
generally poor economy look to build real-world skills before
graduation. Jbara believes that helping students to learn more about
their financial lives is critical to their success in their first jobs
and beyond. His course has grown from just 25 students to 225 over the
past 10 years he has been teaching it, a testament to the growing
popularity of personal finance education on college campuses.
At
NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, there are a number
of personal finance courses students can take. While the courses may
have been largely ignored in past years, that isn’t the case anymore, as
students flock to the office to register for personal finance courses.
In fact, the courses were so popular and had so much interest from
students outside of professional fields that the school actually added
several other sections to their line-up. In addition, the school has
been approached by family members of students who want to learn more
about how to address their own financial situations, and the school may
branch out further in coming years to meet the needs of a community that
increasingly wants to build better personal finance skills.
Professor
Michael Gordinier has taught a personal finance course at Wash U since
2003, open to any student at the school in their junior or senior year
of study. Over the past few years, the course has grown in popularity
and has become one of the better-attended and most-requested classes on
campus, boasting a class size of almost 200 students, up from just 80 a
decade ago. The course is often more full than that, however, as many
business students often audit the course (they cannot take it for
credit) just to get information. At the end of the semester, many
students thank Gordinier for helping them save more or get out of debt, a
big payoff for a semester of work. Gordinier thinks all schools should
offer similar programs, which are currently pretty uncommon, to students
so that they can learn practical skills in money management.
At
Champlain College, students don’t get a choice when it comes to taking
courses in finance; they’re required. Undergrads at Champlain must
attend two sessions on financial literacy during their time at the
school, a change that was made because administrators felt too many
students were graduating without basic financial skills. The courses
cover topics like credit scores, saving, budgeting, retirement, and
credit strategies, among others. Students learn fundamentals that will
help them get jobs, buy homes, and manage debt. In addition to the
required courses, students at Champlain can continue their financial
education through courses in student loans and employment benefits. The
school hopes to host a financial literacy conference in the coming
years.
