Consumer and Financial Skills

Catalog description

AYFCE 270 Consumer and Financial Skill (3) (GS) This course covers essential consumer and financial skills young adults need to successfully manage resources and personal finances. It is also designed to satisfy social and behavioral general education requirements. Major themes addressed include goals and decision-making, spending sensibly, borrowing wisely, maximizing earnings /income, protecting assets, making money work, and life events that have financial implications. Some of the information has immediate application, while the remainder will become applicable to all students after graduating and living independently. Regardless of students’ major or profession, the course content applies to them and can play a critical role in their professional and personal success. Course topics are related to current economic events from an individual perspective, consumers’ behavior in the market, and their impact on communities and society in general. Strategies are discussed which outlines how course topics can be extended to others. For instance, future formal educators (teachers) will learn strategies for incorporating consumer and financial skills into existing curricula regardless of the subject they teach. Students who plan to work in non-formal settings (e.g., human service agencies, community agencies, youth groups or organizations) will acquire useful tools and techniques that may be used to improve the life skills and financial security of their clients. Future parents will learn easy ways to incorporate desired financial skills and behaviors in their children using daily living. The course addresses critical consumer and financial topics from the individual or household level only and with emphasis on key decisions from a social and behavioral perspective.