Country Bank Extends Financial Literacy to College Students
WARE — Recently, Country Bank sponsored its first Financial Literacy Fair for college students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester. This program was a partnership with WPI’s Student Aid and Financial Literacy Department.
The event featured the Next Step, a financial-literacy exercise where college students are asked to step into their very near future by visiting 10 financially informative booths to make real-world decisions.
“Students learn about many of the next steps that they will encounter after they graduate from college,” said Jodie Gerulaitis, the bank’s financial education officer. “They learn that the decisions they make today will affect their finances in the future, such as the unexpected expenses of owning a vehicle, saving for retirement, renting an apartment, or owning a home, and how location can be a deciding factor in their finances.”
The booths the students visit include credit, housing, student loans, insurance, budgeting, fraud prevention, transportation, savings and investing, career development, and employment benefits. The goal is for students to have a better understanding of their future fiscal responsibilities. They learn about balancing a budget and making educated choices about their finances. They also learn how one financial choice can greatly impact another.
