Financial Literacy

Female Student Watching Webinar

Webinars 

Financial health is an important step to a successful life. In conjunction with Self Help Federal Credit Union, Chicago State University is offering Money Moves Wednesdays! Join us to help keep you financially fit!

Date Description
  To be announced
  To be announced
  To be announced

Links

  • Financial Aid Programs: A comprehensive overview of federal financial aid programs.
  • Budgeting in College: Learn how to create the perfect budget.
  • Mapping Your Future: Take control of your life by managing your money.
  • Money Saving Guide: Money saving tips you can’t afford to ignore.
  • You Can Deal With It: Offers tools to help you successfully manage financial decisions. This site provides information about money management; student loan repayment options, budgeting, and the benefits and dangers of credit cards.
  • It’s My Money! This U.S. government website is dedicated to teaching Americans the basics about financial education. Also includes information from 20 federal agencies.
  • Practical Money Skills: Financial Literacy for everyone, including advice for graduates. Click on one of the interactive activities to test your money management skills.
  • InDebtEd: Are you a savings guru or debt casualty? Find out by taking the “Life or Debt” quiz.
  • Money Mondays: Improve your financial wellness by attending free weekly webinars that make it easy to learn about financial basics. Make sure you check out one of the interactive worksheets.

Budgeting

  • JumpStart Reality Check: This “Reality Check” allows students to view the cost of current or future (aspirational) lifestyles. After choosing from various types of shelter, transportation, food, utilities etc., you’ll be presented with the actual income needed to support that lifestyle.
  • Mint: This secure site will help you budget properly and reach your financial goals. It features real-time banking and credit card information. There is even a mobile application for on-the-go savings!
  • FinAid Annual Budget Calculator: This annual budget calculator is geared towards the college student, including their unique expenses (tuition, fees and books) and income types (loans, grants, and scholarships).
  • Budgetpulse: Do you want the convenience of a free online budgeting app, but don't like the idea of downloading your personal financial information? Then Budgetpulse might be for you.

Credit

General Personal Finance

  1. Mapping Your Future: A helpful website that provides information on everything from budgeting to protecting yourself from identity theft.  Personal finance from soup to nuts, you’ll find it here.
  2. Time Magazine: Terrible Financial Advice: This article from Time Magazine lets you know which common finance tips are better left on the cutting room floor.
  3. The Better Business Bureau: The Better Business Bureau provides information on trusted and respected charities and businesses. If you are purchasing something from a business for the first time, using the BBB can help you steer clear of possible scams or identity theft.
  4. Practical Money Skills for Life: A quick and easy to navigate website that provides information on how to budget, types of credit, consumer privacy and consumer awareness.  If being interactive is your style, try the various calculators, games and videos on this site.

Saving for Retirement

AARP Retirement Calculator: It's never too early to start saving for retirement. The earlier you start, the more your money will grow!

Salary Tools and Calculators

Payscale.comSalary.com, Indeed.com: These sites will help you find pay ranges for potential career choices and evaluate future job offers.

Financial Literacy Games

Gen I Revolution

Student Budget Calculator 

Use this calculator to help analyze your budget as a full-time student.

FAFSA Repayment Estimator 

Use this calculator to predict a repayment plan with the student loans you have now.

Pay Off Student Loan or Invest Calculator 

The first step toward understanding what you should be saving or investing compared to how much you are expediting your student loan payments is your budget. Understand what you can afford to put toward each of your goals, debt repayment included, before making a decision one way or another.

Your Future Income Calculator 

Use the link below to research likely starting salaries for the type of job you’ll be looking for. Then, use the other tools in this section to see how that translates to a monthly paycheck and build a future budget for your future paycheck.