Elizabethtown College’s business department will offer a financial-planning course called Personal Finance Planning: Foundations for Financial Literacy (BA173) next semester. The course is open to all majors and will not require prerequisites. This two-credit course will be offered March 19 through May 2 and will meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 to 10:40 a.m..
After being proposed last spring, the class was added to the 2012-2013 course catalog. The idea and details for this course were promoted and created with the help of Terrie Riportella, Edgar T. Bitting, chair of accounting and director of the accounting program and Sylvester Williams, associate professor and chair of the business and law department. The course will cover many topics, such as managing finances, credit/money management, budgeting and taxes.
High levels of personal credit card debt and other various debt, mortgage loan defaults and personal bankruptcies will be covered in the class to familiarize students with these critical financial issues. Several organizations throughout the country have supported and encouraged efforts to improve financial literacy. Now, the College is implementing these strategies to educate students on the importance of being financially literate when they become financially independent post graduation.
“With this course, students have an opportunity to equip themselves with tools to help them make responsible financial decisions going forward,” Thomas Elicker, accounting lecturer said. Elicker emphasizes the importance of this class because he believes it is useful and thinks that all students must have some financial knowledge.
The College offers various fields of study, but does not require finance or business courses in order to graduate. However, students will now have the opportunity to be more informed in the area of finance.
This course will provide students with the information they need to be successful when they graduate from college and have to deal with these new financial changes. “All of these experiences are part of the process of becoming independent in the world and many students may not be prepared. In addition, students will learn how to protect themselves from unseen events and saving for the future,” Elicker said.
Personal Planning-Foundations for Financial Literacy (BA173) is considered an experimental course and will await feedback from students and faculty after it has been introduced. If you have any further questions, contact Thomas Elicker at ELICKERTG@etown.edu.