Financial Scholars Completed 1,585 Hours of Learning During the 2020-2021 School Year

SESLOC is the proud sponsor of EverFi’s Financial Scholars program, which provides practical financial education to Central Coast high school students. The online curriculum covers topics like budgeting, credit, taxes, financing higher education, and more.

The Financial Scholars program proved to be a valuable addition to teachers’ lesson plans as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to disrupt the 2020-2021 school year, forcing classrooms to juggle remote, in-person, and hybrid learning.

Program Results Include:

• Active participation by 5 Central Coast schools, including Cabrillo, Santa Maria, Cuyama Valley, San Luis Obispo, and Nipomo High Schools
• More than 650 students completed the program
• Students completed more than 1,500 hours of learning
• After completing the program, students’ financial literacy assessment scores increased by 42%

Feedback From High School Learners:

• “I will use what I learned in this course all the time. This is stuff that is needed in the modern world and having this information will benefit me constantly.”
• “I thought this course did a great job at explaining simple things that we need to know such as the W-4 page that we need to fill out when we start working and the simple things that we need to fill out in our taxes.”
• “I liked how this course broke down each step to applying for certain financial items. Especially learning how to personally budget our expenses when we have jobs later in the near future.”

Feedback From Teachers:

• “These lessons expose students to content that I normally would cover in class but don’t have the time to do so in our virtual schedule. I like that these lessons expose students to content and skills that they will use in the future.”
• “The content is scaffolded beautifully, allowing different levels of students to achieve comprehension of Real-Life Matters! I will continue to use this course for many more classes to come!! Thank you, thank you! I have been looking for a course that is a one-stop setup and this is it!”
• “It’s very easy for students to understand. The material reinforces topics we cover in class and teaches material that is very important, but I don’t have time to cover in class.”