The Graduate School sponsors a Financial Literacy Festival to help undergraduates and graduate students be savvy with their money, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room. Financial experts will be on hand at a dozen resource tables, addressing such topics as: tax information for resident and not resident students; strategies and tricks for better money management; credit and debt information; and effective salary negotiation.

Cornell is one of 15 institutions funded by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) to conduct a two-year initiative to enhance student financial education and literacy, focusing on graduate, professional and undergraduate students.

Similar to the U.S. debt and its national clock, student loan debt has received increasing media and public attention and now has its own “clock,” providing an estimate of total student debt from federal and private sources. As of today, this amount had risen to $1.2 trillion and is increasing at a rate of $2,853 per second.

The festival seeks to help students make informed decisions about their current and future financial status and enter into debt wisely with skills to manage debt responsibly.

Enhancing student financial literacy is consistent with Cornell’s commitment to providing access to higher education, demonstrated by its long-standing policy of need-blind admissions and need-based undergraduate financial aid.

By surveying and measuring the effectiveness of each grantee’s programming, CGS will develop best practices to improve financial education among college students. More information about the project is available at Enhancing Student Financial Education.