Credit-Wise Cats (named after the University of Arizona Wildcats) is a student-run organization that provides personal financial education to University of Arizona students, faculty and the greater Tucson community. These highly trained student counselors provide a wide variety of money management workshops, one-on-one counseling, regional and national case study competitions, a community-wide symposium with pertinent employment-related topics and other creative programs to fulfill our mission of teaching personal finance. The Credit-Wise Cats has taught over 1250 students at the U of A, developed "Credit-Wise" teams on other University campuses, and provided case study competition opportunities to 26 SIFE schools around the country. This Student in Free Enterprise (SIFE) project is funded by Take Charge America.
Twelve regional personal finance case study competitions have taken place since November 2005. All host teams were provided with a template to execute their event, an original personal finance case study, judging solutions, and judging criteria. Members of the Credit-Wise Cats team supervised each competition. Take Charge America sponsored these competitions. $84,000 in prize money was awarded.
The fourth Annual Duel in the Desert is being held March 2-5, 2006. Twenty-four teams from across the country will be in Tucson to vie for the personal finance case study competition national championship. David Gardner, The Motley Fool, will be the keynote speaker in the opening ceremony leading up to the distribution of the original personal finance case study. Students will have 36 hours to solve the case and design a presentation to a panel of over 40 expert judges. The top four places will win from $4000 to 1000 respectively and the other 20 teams will receive $500 each in participation prizes. Take Charge America , Chase, and Wells Fargo provided funds for the competition.
In partnership with Hughes Federal Credit Union, the Credit-Wise Cats project of the U of A SIFE team will host a personal finance case study competition for high school students. Prior to the competition, five high school classrooms at Cienega High School (2 classrooms), Pueblo High School, Sahuaro High School, and Sunnyside High School will use an assortment of curricula (NEFE, MSU) to teach the basics of money management. Topics include basic budgeting, needs vs. wants, saving, investing, and credit and debt management. Pre and posttests will measure the effectives of the program. Teachers are from Hughes Federal Credit Union, the Credit-Wise Cats, and regular classroom teachers.
After the curriculum has been taught, the UA SIFE team will do two workshops for each classroom on the topics of presentation skills, proper dressing, and power point. At that time, participating high schools classes will be given a personal finance case study to analyze and solve in preparation for the Junior Duel in the Desert personal finance case study competition, which will be held in the Social Sciences Building on the University of Arizona campus on April 29, 2006 from 8 AM to 2 PM.
Junior Duel in the Desert Website
FEFE's mission is to provide educators with curriculum free of charge and the skills and confidence to effectively teach family economics and finance. FEFE curriculum materials designed primarily for grades 7-12 utilize the multiple intelligences and an activity based approach designed in a ready-to-teach format requiring minimal educator preparation. They are developed by a unique collaboration – an advisory board comprised of middle and high school educators, collegiate educators, industry professionals, and the FEFE Master Teacher team. Educators may also receive professional update materials via FEFE newsletters and the opportunity to participate in one of FEFE's highly interactive state or national trainings. Over 9,500 educators download FEFE curriculum materials teaching over 500,000 students.
Small Steps to Health and Wealth is a program is designed to motivate consumers to implement behavior change strategies that simultaneously improve their health and personal finances. To learn more about the Small Steps to Health and Wealth program, please see Small Steps to Health and Wealth online resources.
Small Steps to Health and Wealth Website