TOOLKIT FOR
POST-SECONDARY
STUDENTS
Financial literacy:
Demonstrate financial management knowledge, skills and awareness necessary to navigate school, work, transitions and other life responsibilities.
You can demonstrate your financial literacy through:
- Understanding what is meant by financial literacy and its importance
- Recognizing that financial literacy is a lifelong endeavour
- Identifying the costs and funding sources associated with various education and career pathways
- Developing a personal financial plan to support the achievement of education, life and career goals
- Evaluating and setting short- and long-term financial goals to support making healthy financial decisions that lead to financial security (e.g., saving and investing money, debt financing and sources, contractual obligations)
- Knowing how to develop and manage a budget
- Knowing how to keep personal information safe and secure, to prevent and protect against fraud and financial abuse
- Maintaining financial records, as required, to assist with calculating, submitting and supporting reports (e.g., income tax, loan applications, requests for financial assistance)
Alyssa is very pragmatic about the cost of education and the notion of “return on investment.” Her older sister and a couple of family friends completed degrees, ran up huge student loans and then couldn’t find work in their fields. She contrasted this to the information she’d read that people with education have higher lifetime earnings. It was hard to sort out myths from reality!
Alyssa does some research about occupations that are in demand (and predicted to be in demand in the future). She then does salary comparisons for those in-demand jobs, paying attention to entry-level salaries as well as salaries after 5 and 10 years in the field. Alyssa also speaks to people working in the jobs she is considering.
Through these interviews, Alyssa learns of one employer that was tired of waiting for graduates from the local college and is fast-tracking a group of students through a comparable certificate program in-house. The employer has converted a boardroom to a classroom and hired a qualified instructor. Although the students aren’t paid to attend the course, there are no tuition fees. Alyssa has been saving for school – her savings are enough to cover her living expenses for the 1-year program, so she can complete it debt-free and have a very good chance of a job at the end.
