INDIANAPOLIS, March 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- USA Funds® reports that more than 147,000 college students nationwide have benefitted from personal finance guidance and academic success advice through its online curriculum, USA Funds Life Skills®. The financial literacy and student success program recently achieved another milestone with students' completion of 500,000 USA Funds Life Skills courses.
"USA Funds Life Skills gets results in helping students better manage their finances, including their student loan debt, and pursue their academic goals," said Craig P. Anderson, USA Funds senior vice president, business development. "Colleges and universities have the flexibility to deploy the courses to a wide range of different student populations, in a variety of settings, using a completely self-directed approach, classroom-based presentation or a combination of both."
A total of 214 colleges and universities nationwide offer USA Funds Life Skills to their students through campus financial literacy and student success initiatives. To learn how students at St. Philip's College in San Antonio benefit from USA Funds Life Skills, visit annualreports.usafunds.org/financial-literacy.html.
Students surveyed three to six months after completing USA Funds Life Skills courses reported that the lessons had a positive impact on their personal finance and academic success practices. Of the more than 8,000 students who responded to the survey, 94 percent reported changing at least one behavior related to managing personal finances or school life issues.
Students surveyed about USA Funds Life Skills also shared the following comments:
- "Life Skills helped me to become more aware of the relationship between my finances and my education. I realized through the class that they go hand in hand. It is important to stay focused while setting and meeting goals for my education, as well as my finances. As a student, I must remain disciplined in both areas, finances and education together, in order to have true success."
- "Good study habits were hard to develop because I have to balance family, work and school. But USA Funds Life Skills teaches you how to do it."
- "This information was very helpful. I am going to use all of the tips in the lesson to get out of debt and to regain my place in the world of credit."
- "I am grateful about everything I learned from Life Skills! Going back to school, getting loans, and how to manage the loans is a lot to take in all at once, but with Life Skills it has taken my stress away."
USA Funds offers USA Funds Life Skills without charge to postsecondary institutions as part of its commitment to supporting student success in higher education and promoting successful student loan repayment. For more information about USA Funds Life Skills, visit www.usafunds.org/DefaultPrevention/Pages/LifeSkills.aspx.
USA Funds is a nonprofit corporation that works to enhance postsecondary education preparedness, access and success by providing and supporting financial and other valued services. USA Funds provides grants to support initiatives that improve student access to and success in higher education, and serves colleges and universities with financial literacy programs for college students, debt management and default prevention consultation and support, training for financial aid administrators, and student aid policy compliance assistance. For more information, visit www.usafunds.org.