js-1233: U. S. Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Dan Iannicola, Jr. <script type="text/javascript"> var wmNotice = "UNT Web Archive - External links, forms, and search boxes may not function within this collection. Url: http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/js1233.htm time: 19:40:51 Jan 18, 2009"; var wmHideNotice = "hide"; var contextRoot = "https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/js/disclaim.js"></script> <br>Promotes Financial Education in Phoenix, Arizona



	FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS March 11, 2004 js-1233 U. S. Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Dan Iannicola, Jr. Promotes Financial Education in Phoenix, Arizona Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Education, Dan Iannicola, Jr. today visited the Metro Center Academy, a second-chance high school in Phoenix. While visiting the school, Iannicola taught a class on budgeting and credit management with Marsha Lunden, an executive from Desert Schools Federal Credit Union. "It’s critical that we make financial education a priority. While financial education is very valuable for adults, it can have the greatest overall life impact on young people. Young people have not yet established bad spending patterns. Therefore education can mold their habits more effectively than it can for adults," said Iannicola. In 2001, teenagers spent more that $172 billion ^[1]. Currently, more than twenty percent of teens have their own credit card ^[2]. And, there has been a 50 percent increase over the past 10 years in the number of people under 25 filing for bankruptcy ^[3]. While in Arizona, Iannicola delivered remarks at the Education Finance Council’s annual meeting in Scottsdale on March 11. Iannicola spoke about the need for pre-loan counseling and financial education for those pursuing a postsecondary education. He also advised the student lenders on the best ways to help high schools establish effective financial education programs so that students can more wisely finance their college educations. Iannicola will also meet with a diverse group of financial education organizations on March 12 to discuss ways to make it easier for individuals to utilize existing resources. These organizations include Arizona Credit Union League, Arizona Saves, Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Finance, National Endowment for Financial Education, the University of Arizona Extension, and Desert Schools Federal Credit Union. The Metro Center Academy, a public high school of the Glendale Union High School District, is the result of a community-based partnership among the Glendale Union High School District, Simon Youth Foundation and Communities in Schools to help students (ages 17-21) who have dropped out of high school graduate with a full high school diploma instead of a GED. Each student learns at his or her own pace through computer-based instruction in academic courses, complete training in retail and commerce courses, obtain work experience opportunities, and participate in community service activities as part of the program. The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Education was established in May 2002. The OFE focuses the Department’s financial education policymaking, and ensures coordination on financial education within the Department and all of its bureaus. The OFE provides the Department of the Treasury with expertise on the many complex and interdisciplinary issues involved in financial education, and taps into the Department’s wide base of expertise on finance. The OFE also supports the efforts of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, a group chaired by the Secretary of Treasury and composed of representatives from 20 federal departments, agencies, and commissions, which works to improve financial literacy and education for people throughout the United States. - 30 - ^[1] (JumpStart Coalition) "Check Out These Dollars and Sense," Peoria Journal Star, May 12, 2003 ^[2] (Teenage Research Unlimited) Jennifer Goldblatt, "Kids Turn to Parents to Learn to Manage Money," The News Journal, August 25, 2003 ^[3] Michelle Singletary, "Don’t Be Shy About Teaching Kids Their Money Lessons," Sun-Sentinel, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, May 19, 2003