FOR RELEASE: Sept 2, 1999

CSUN Professor Joins Effort to Improve the
Financial Literacy of California¹s Youth

Martin, director of CSUN¹s Consumer Resource Center and a family environmental sciences professor, said the California Jump$tart Coalition is designing programs to help teachers and parents instill a sense of financial savvy in young people between the ages of 5 and 18.

³Our children need financial education today more than ever,² Martin said. ³They are constantly exposed to messages urging them to become consumers. They are signing up for credit cards, often before they ever understand exactly how a credit card works. We as adults and educators need to take a more active role in helping these children understand the basic elements of financial literacy.²

The California Jump$tart Coalition includes representatives from Junior Achievement, the California Council of Economic Educators, the Federal Reserve Bank, the California Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, the California Society of CPAs, the National Association of Securities Dealers, the National Endowment for Financial Education and the Consumer Credit Counseling Service.

The coalition will host a daylong symposium next month at UCLA to provide teachers with ways to include financial literacy in their curriculum.

Martin said the primary goal of Jump$tart is to encourage legislation to make personal finance a required subject in high school.

³Other than the social good of this coalition, one of the reasons I support it is that by increasing the financial awareness, our college students can finally focus on what their primary task is at a university ‹ learning,² Martin said.

Martin, who provides financial counseling to CSUN students, said he is frustrated by the number of students who are struggling to pay off high interest credit cards or expensive vehicles rather than concentrating on their education.

³We need to start teaching the importance of delayed gratification; how to set financial goals,² Martin said. ³If you make $20,000 a year, you should not be driving a $30,000 car.²

For more information about the coalition or the symposium, contact Martin at (818) 677-6252.