Giving Compass
  • Sign In
  • About Us
    About Giving Compass How We Choose Content and Organizations Annual Reflections Our Newsletter
  • Getting Started
  • Learn About Issues
    Topic Guides
    Animal Welfare COVID-19 Criminal Justice Democracy Disaster Relief Education Environment Health Homelessness Immigrants and Refugees Racial Equity Women and Girls
    Curated Articles
    Partner Collections Giving Compass Selections See All Articles
  • Give to Causes
    Issue Funds & Intermediaries Projects Nonprofits
  • Get Involved
    Philanthropy Resource Directory Events Volunteer Opportunities
  • Partner With Us
    Nonprofits Authors Use Our Content Services Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Sign Up
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Sign In

Financial Literacy Can Hold Key to College Success

EdSource
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
Click here for more.
Financial Literacy Can Hold Key to College Success Giving Compass
  •  Share
  •  Save
Share

Giving Compass’ Take:

• Melissa Fries explains that financial literacy can prevent students -especially low-income students – from accruing unmanageable student debt. 

• How can financial literacy lessons be inserted into schools and government resources to improve access? What can be done to help students who have already fallen victims to this pattern? 

• Here’s why it is necessary to teach financial literacy in schools.


There are many reasons low-income students don’t get a degree — on average, just 9 percent of low-income students graduate college by age 24. Many of those reasons are related to finances, including attending a school they can’t afford or needing to take a job to afford college, which can detract from their focus on their studies.

To change this statistic, we need to deploy financial guidance — both leading up to college decisions and once students are on campus. Ideally, students can receive the former type of guidance from college counselors at their high schools and the latter type of guidance from their college financial aid counselors. Unfortunately, heavy caseloads often preclude this type of individualized attention. But community-based organizations can also provide financial guidance to students.

While college counseling is generally used to help high schoolers get into college, financial guidance is a powerful tool to help students choose the right financial fit and stay in college and obtain a degree. Infusing financial literacy into college counselor training will help students make a good financial-fit decision from the get go. College counselors typically receive training about how to create a balanced list of prospective colleges and how to navigate the application process, but not about how to interpret financial aid award letters and help families make a financially sustainable decision.

Read the full article on financial literacy and college success by Melissa Fries at EdSource.

  •  Share
  •  Save
Share

Poverty is a complex topic, and others found these selections from the Impact Giving archive from Giving Compass to be good resources.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    High-impact Opportunities to Improve the Lives of Women and Girls

    Investing in women & girls has immense potential for positive social change – not just for them, but also for their families and communities. Yet, women around the world experience worse outcomes and have limited opportunities compared to men in many areas of life. Improving women’s lives is therefore both a matter of social justice and smart investment for broad social impact. Here are five high impact opportunities for donors to support women and girls, both in the U.S. and around the world. 1. Invest in the health of newborns and mothers abroad  The Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health (SEARCH) has pioneered a cost-effective and innovative Home-Based Newborn Care (HBNC) program that has been serving vulnerable rural communities in India for over 30 years. SEARCH trains rural women as village health workers to educate women in their communities, and provide basic care to mothers and their children before, during, and after birth. SEARCH’s HBNC program has been shown to decrease newborn deaths by 70% and maternal deaths by 49% in villages where it is implemented. Read more here. 2. Support counseling services for low-income, first time mothers in the U.S. Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) implements the proven home visitation model to increase access to services for mothers and children in under resourced communities. Low income mothers pregnant with their first child are matched with a registered nurse that visits them starting from pregnancy through the child’s second birthday. The nurses provide counseling and care related to healthy practices, childcare, family planning, and employment. Based on a 2015 review, Dr. T.R. Miller of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation estimates that for every $1 spent on the program, society receives $6.40 of net benefits from increased tax revenues and reductions in social costs. Read more here. 3. Help women in extreme poverty achieve social and economic empowerment abroad Fonkoze’s Chemen Lavi Mayó (CLM) is one of many groups applying the graduation model of economic stability to help Haitian women in extreme poverty build skills and greater confidence. The program provides each member with the materials to construct a small home with a sturdy roof and a latrine; a water filter; and her choice of two activities to begin earning an income, including raising various types of livestock or selling merchandise. Over 3,500 women have “graduated” from CLM’s program since 2006, moving both themselves and their families from ultrapoverty to increased economic security. Read more here. 4. Subsidize addiction treatment programs that serve both women and their children Meta House, a treatment center based in Wisconsin, seeks to assist women recovering from substance use disorders by providing residential treatment programs and comprehensive services for both mothers and their children. By housing children onsite, and providing both parenting education as well as youth-related services, Meta House ensures women stay in treatment as long as they need. With its family-focused approach to recovery, it has seen more than double the national average for treatment retention for clients who stay past the first two weeks of treatment. Three months of specialized treatment for a mother, newborn and additional young child can be subsidized for only $6,750. Read more here. 5. Help train women in rural regions to provide crucial health services to their communities Curamericas Guatemala provides health services to a remote indigenous community in Guatemala that has some of the worst health outcomes in Latin America. Curamericas trains local women to teach other mothers in their community about life-saving health practices. It also operates three birthing centers, known as Casas Maternas Rurales, staffed by trained nurses who work with indigenous midwives who are respected in the community and who help Curamericas staff gain and maintain the trust of local women. In the past three years, the partner communities with the Casas have not had any maternal deaths, in a region with some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Read more here. For more guidance on how you can improve the lives of women and girls, see our comprehensive framework, The XX Factor and read more about the 10 Best Bets for Funders. 


Looking for a way to get involved?

Learning with others and benchmarking are key steps towards becoming an impact giver. If you are interested in giving with impact for Education, take a look at these events, galas, conferences and volunteering opportunities to connect with individuals like you.

Loading...
Learn More

Are you ready to give?

Education is an important topic. Other members found these Giving Funds, Charitable Organizations and Projects aggregated by Giving Compass to be relevant to individuals with a passion for Education.

Loading...
Learn More
Connect

Loading...

Loading...

Learn More
Take Action

Loading...

Loading...

Loading...

Learn More
More from
Giving Compass
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Three Ways to Help More Low-Income Students Get Through College
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    The Struggles With Back-to-School Time
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    How Parents, Counselors, and Schools Can Help Stop Summer Melt
Follow Us
Newsletter

Become a newsletter subscriber to stay up-to-date on the latest Giving Compass news.

About Us
  • About Giving Compass
  • In The News
  • Contact Us
  • Content at Giving Compass
  • Partner With Us
Trending Issues
  • Environment
  • Homelessness
  • STEM Education
  • Equal Pay Act
  • Gender Equality

Copyright © 2021, Giving Compass, LLC

•
  • Privacy Policy
  • User Agreement

Sign in

Your personal information is confidential at Giving Compass. For more information, please visit our privacy policy. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use.