Financial literacy plan targets students

Tertiary students' money management will benefit from an initiative by the Commission for Financial Literacy and Retirement Income and Visa launched in Wellington yesterday.

Visa will fund a pilot programme of up to 15 tutors from the city's Whitireia Polytechnic to attend a course in delivering financial education.

"For many young people tertiary study offers them their first taste of financial independence," said Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan.

"We need to make sure that those who are teaching financial literacy have the level of skill and knowledge required to give their students the tools they need," she said.

The pilot stemmed from joint research by the commission and Visa which examined how to increase the quality of formal financial education.

Research found some 53 per cent of tutors who provided financial education didn't receive specialist training.

The online survey across 34 tertiary institutions showed participants' main needs were in budgeting and learning to make good money choices.

"We hope this programme will be far reaching, improving not just the financial literacy of students but also their families and helping them make good choices about their spending now, as well as affecting their financial decisions in the future," said Don Campbell, chief executive at Whitireia.

Massey University will undertake a longitudinal study to evaluate the pilot's effectiveness.

"This is a stepping stone for a larger discussion over the next couple of months to make New Zealand more financially literate," said Commerce Minister Craig Foss.