2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work-in-Progress: Overview of a Financial Literacy Course for Incoming Engineering Students at a Hispanic Serving Institution

Authors: Diane E. Golding, PhD., Sarah Huizar, Victor M. Garcia

Abstract:
This Work in Progress paper discusses a financial literacy course offered in an introductory engineering course to prepare freshman students on personal finance and money management. The Yes, SHE Can! program from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) developed the financial literacy course, which generally consists of an introduction module, five learning modules on key topics related to financial literacy, and a final project. Students were exposed to finance and money management related topics such as cash flow, budgeting, savings accounts and strategies, investments, retirement accounts, and work-force benefits. Access to the introductory engineering course, which had a total of 23 students enrolled during the first implementation, was provided by a faculty member from the UTEP Engineering Leadership and Education Department. Students were allowed to complete the financial literacy learning modules progressively at their own time throughout the spring 2022 semester. A pre-semester survey was sent to the students to have a baseline of students’ knowledge of personal and college related financial management. The students’ participation in the learning modules and final project was analyzed to determine the preliminary impact of the first implementation of the financial literacy course. From this study, students showed interest in learning more about personal finance and money management, and actively participated in the financial literacy course implemented for the introductory engineering class.