Should you rent or buy a home? What's a more effective financial strategy – methodical saving or intentional investing? These questions require a deep understanding of financial products, the time value of money and your financial climate.
On Dec. 10, 2018, 25 students at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Florida, tackled these questions and more in a lively financial literacy debate. Students came prepared with clear arguments, supporting evidence and a few witty rebuttal one-liners.
This event showcased just some of what students learned through BB&T Financial Foundations, an online curriculum teaching students the A, B, Cs of personal finance. The program includes nine modules on a variety of topics, ranging from credit cards to financing higher education to investing. More than 743,000 students at 1,429 schools throughout BB&T’s footprint have taken BB&T Financial Foundations, all at no cost to the schools.
Scott Keith, BB&T regional president, and Debbie Buckland, BB&T Jacksonville market president, served as judges along with TiLena Washington-Robinson, Duval County Public Schools’ instructional specialist.
"I was grateful for the opportunity to serve as a judge for the financial literacy debate competition. I enjoyed seeing students present their arguments about financial matters and decisions relevant to them,” Washington-Robinson said. “This was a wonderful opportunity for them to work collaboratively with each other, use their research skills to develop meaningful arguments about real life situations and present them in a respectful manner.”
All BB&T Financial Foundations students are in high school, on the verge of financial independence. By providing students with critical financial information at a pivotal time, BB&T is empowering students to make more informed financial decisions and prevent financial missteps before they begin.
“It's all of our jobs to make sure our students succeed,” said Buckland, a sentiment shared across BB&T. In the previous school year alone, BB&T visited 174 classrooms to volunteer with students who participated in the BB&T Financial Foundations course.
“Any time we're in the community, it gets back to our mission and who BB&T is at the heart,” Keith said. “Our mission is to make the world a better place to live, and the way we do that is one interaction at a time.”