Many college students graduate without an understanding of personal finance and issues like credit. The University of Delaware’s Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) is working to change that, one classroom at a time.

Since 2008, the CEEE has invited Bank of America employees to campus to present the CEEE’s Understanding Credit and Credit Scores Lesson. The CEEE offers this lesson as an option for all UD First Year Seminar (FYS) professors/peer mentors and their students.

“It is critical to the success of our economy, and our children’s success in life, that they leave school with a solid foundation for their financial futures,” said Connie Montana, Bank of America vice president and community relations manager for Delaware.

So far, more than 4,500 UD students have experienced this course and had the opportunity to ask questions of professionals who are invested in helping young people receive the tools and information needed to empower their financial futures.

In one such classroom, Breck Robinson, associate professor in UD’s School of Public Policy and Administration, welcomed Lynn DeVaughn from Bank of America as a guest speaker for his FYS class.

Robinson said that because his class is an integrated, content-based, co-curricular experience for first year students, he includes a multitude of guest speakers to talk to his class about various life skills, rather than lecturing on one topic.

“We spend most of our time having speakers come in or going to speakers,” Robinson said. “The students are coming in with all different types of interest.”

DeVaughn’s discussion covered many important details about how students should handle their money in college. She went over how to budget and make budgetary adjustments, how to avoid overextending a budget, and what parts of a budget students can control.

Robinson added that this information comes at a particularly important time, since many students haven’t yet had to learn to budget their own money.

“The problem is a lot of our students, especially freshmen, are still being supported by their parents,” Robinson said.

As students begin to support themselves, courses like the CEEE’s FYS lesson aim to help make that transition smoother with the help of informed choices.

Students not participating in these sessions are encouraged to visit Bank of America’s bettermoneyhabits.com, a free online resource that provides the tools and information needed to help make better financial decisions.