The Journey
2009-10
Colleges in Northern Ireland began their Money Weeks in September 2009 to coincide with the new college year. Activities included North West Regional College’s ‘feed your flat for a fiver’ competition, and Northern Regional College’s workshops with Northern Bank and HM Revenue and Customs. ALFP also extended Money for LiFE to independent training providers and to the College of Enterprise Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) which received praise from the Education and Training Inspectorate for their financial capability programme for first-year students. Almost 2,500 students were reached this year.
View a Case Study of Northern Regional College’s Fresher and Money Week event
Colleges across Wales began their second annual Money Week In January 2010, between them increasing student attendance from 4,000 in nine colleges in 2009 to 11,600 in 13 colleges. Activities included a Money Fayre at Swansea College with sessions on ‘interview clothes on a budget’ and ‘healthy eating on a budget’.
View Case Studies of events at Barry College and Pembrokeshire College.
Money Week in England took place across 67 colleges starting in March 2010, benefiting over 38,000 students. Tutorial programmes preceded this in many colleges. Activities included money-related competitions, a link with ‘No Smoking Day’ and the price of cigarettes, and the chance to put money questions to a financial adviser online.
View Case Studies from Aquinas, Farnborough, Leeds and Southampton Colleges.
Due to the range of colleges in Scotland from the more remote and rural to large urban-based, the approach was slightly different, and colleges completed action plans outlining the level of activity most appropriate to them. This ranged from Money Weeks to a single activity with a small group of students. 26,000 students were reached across the 38 colleges taking part in activities such as an online Money for LiFE Budget Game, competitions and budget recipes.
In total this year 107 colleges held activities benefiting over 75,000 students.
We produced Vox Pop films in which students from colleges in each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland shared their money tips and experiences. The films are hosted on our What About Money? web site for Young People.
2008-09
We began work with delivery partners: ColegauCymru/CollegesWales, Adult Learner Finance Project in Northern Ireland, National Skills Academy for Financial Services in England, and Scotland’s Colleges.
With our funding the partners ran Money for LiFE in colleges across the UK and supported colleges in running the first Money Weeks. 60 colleges participated, benefiting over 27,000 students.
In April 2009 external evaluation conducted by National Foundation for Educational Research found that 50% of students were aware of Money for LiFE, 92% felt more knowledgeable about financial issues after taking part in a Money Week, and 73% felt better-equipped to manage their money.
The Lord Mayor of London hosted an event to acknowledge the success of the Money for LiFE work being done with the NSAFS.
The Welsh Assembly Government published its Financial Inclusion Strategy, giving its public support to our financial capability programmes including Money for LiFE.
2007-08
We recruited ten UK colleges to help us develop a resource to help college staff provide students with personal finance education, and the completed CD-ROM was distributed to all UK colleges.
The ten colleges were: Belfast Metropolitan College; City College, Norwich; Cornwall College; Telford College, Edinburgh; John Wheatley College, Glasgow; Neath Port Talbot College; Newcastle College; North West Kent College; South Nottingham College; Tower Hamlets College.