Awarded NEFE Grants

To learn more about the grants that NEFE has funded in the past, review the following examples.

NEFE Grant Investigates Debt Consolidation Ads and Offers

Advertising of debt consolidation programs bombards consumers every day with offers to eliminate their credit problems with affordable monthly payments. Unfortunately, it is not yet known whether these loan consolidation offers might be doing more harm than good for consumers. Researchers, with a $175,549 grant from NEFE, have set out to look at this issue and, ultimately, hope to help consumers be able to respond responsibly to these debt consolidation offers.

Maine Independent Living Project and NEFE Grant Help Individuals with Disabilities

A NEFE-funded project initiated in Maine to help the state’s disabled population has sparked interest from other nonprofit organizations seeking to duplicate its success. Developed by Alpha One, a center for independent living, the project teaches money management skills to individuals with disabilities so they can better access the assistive technology and services they need to live more independently. Assistive technology includes wheelchairs, accessible vans, videophones, computer software, and other devices proven to benefit individuals with disabilities, yet can be costly to purchase.

NEFE Grant Project Studies Teachers

Preparedness and Money Management Issues Impact Efficacy

In 2006, the National Endowment for Financial Education®(NEFE®) awarded a $104,807 research grant to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study how prepared teachers are to teach financial education in the nation’s schools and how educators’ personal issues with money management may affect their willingness and ability to effectively include personal finance in the curriculum. The following is an interview with one of the research leaders, Wendy Way, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Dean at the School of Human Ecology, to find out what her team has learned at this halfway point. The project is scheduled for completion in August 2008.

Tracking College Students’ Financial Behaviors

When it comes to money, what makes young adults tick? Researchers will attempt to unlock this mystery as they examine the financial attitudes and behaviors of some 2,000 University of Arizona freshmen this fall.

Evaluation Toolkit Now Available to Personal Finance Educators

An innovative tool to evaluate the effectiveness of financial education programs now is accessible to individuals and organizations involved in financial literacy activities. The new resource, called the NEFE Financial Education Evaluation Toolkit^SM, was developed by university researchers through a $137,000 grant from the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®).

Notre Dame Awarded a NEFE Grant in 2006

The University of Notre Dame was awarded a $100,000 grant for a research project to be conducted by Gilberto Cárdenas, Ph.D., Assistant Provost and Director of the Institute for Latino Studies. The project, “La Tercera Edad: Latinos’ Financial Literacy, Pensions, and Impact on Families,” will focus on current Latino workers, the Latino elderly, and their family members. It will examine the retirement behavior of Latinos and compare it with that of their Caucasian and African-American counterparts. Dr. Cárdenas plans to provide practical recommendations, based on his research, for retirement planning education programs for Latinos residing in the U.S.

Grant Project Awarded for Study on Relationship between Financial Education and Financial Behavior

A grant totaling $112,552 was awarded to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to conduct a study on the effectiveness of financial education programs in high school. Assistant Professor Michael Gutter, Ph.D., will study the relationship between the exposure to financial education in high school and the financial behaviors of college students following the conclusion of high school.

Grant Awarded for Cross-Disciplinary Financial Research

What do neuroscience, psychosocial sciences, behavioral economics, and finances share in common?

They’re the focus of a $65,950 NEFE grant to the Institute for Socio-Financial Studies (ISFS), which will review current interdisciplinary research in these areas. The goal of the project, under lead researcher Lois A. Vitt, Ph.D., is to develop a better understanding of how people make financial decisions.

Dartmouth College Research Project Aims to Boost Workplace Savings

With many employees failing to save enough for retirement or even participate in employer-sponsored retirement savings programs, there’s a great need for more effective financial education in the workplace.

Dartmouth College recently received a $174,776 grant from NEFE to fund the research and development of a model workplace financial education program. This project aims to increase participation in and contributions to supplementary retirement savings accounts by women and low-income workers.