Dr. Joanne Bankston, professor and State Extension Specialist at Kentucky State  University  (KSU) developed and presented four financial education classes remotely to students who are enrolled in the Upward Bound Program.  The Upward Bound Program is a federally funded TRIO program that provides support to participants whose goals are to receive a college degree. It is comprised of both a rigorous academic and summer component. Students must be low income and/or first generation. The program also accepts ninth graders at risk for academic failure.

The program’s mission is to motivate, assist, and promote qualified high school students to pursue a four year college degree by building their academic skills and social development through exposure to a variety of career, cultural, academic, and social experiences. It serves students in three high schools in Frankfort, KY.

Dr. Bankston prepared five lessons and presented 4 of the lessons to 19 of the enrolled students.  The students were in the 9^th and 10^th grades.  Financial literacy is a critical need for all consumers – both youth and adult.  The inclusion of financial education is sketchy in the curriculum of many schools.  Therefore, classes were designed to teach important concepts and information that will be useful in their everyday lives. A class was taught 1 hour each day during the week of June 22-25, 2020 through Blackboard Collaborative Ultra.  The following lessons were taught under the theme of Money Power:  Wise Decisions About Your Money and Your Life for College Students:  Managing Your Money;  Shopping Skills; Banking, Savings, Building Wealth; Credit & Identity Theft; Understanding College, College Attendance, & Related Financial Matters  (lesson prepared, but not delivered due to mis-communication).  Each lesson consisted of a PowerPoint presentation, a U-tube video on each topic, and activities.  The overall goal of the lessons was to motivate students on the importance of financial management in their high school and college years and their life.   The lessons exposed students to: developing a spending plan; developing shopping skills; developing banking and savings accounts; understanding credit; and understanding identity theft.  

As a result of the lessons, the students indicated that they would keep a log of their spending for the week; list their wants vs. their needs and prioritize; make a shopping list for back to school items; and learn more about credit and debit card use.  It is hoped that exposure to the lessons will motivate students to begin developing a plan for the use of their money, shop more wisely, and begin using the bank.