Chapter 3 Learning Activities
Stevy Scarbrough
The purpose of these activities is to help you develop a budget, identify how to build credit, and identify different ways to pay for college.
LO1. Complete the ECMC Financial Wellness course. (Adjust this LO if you use a different program.)
LO2. Create a budget and track your spending.
LO3. Demonstrate how to raise and lower credit.
LO4. Schedule an appointment and meet with the scholarship coordinator. (Adjust this LO to the appropriate person/office)
LO5. Discuss scholarship opportunities available on and off campus.
Activity 3.1 Enhancing Your Financial Literacy
[Instructors: If your school does not have a partnership with ECMC Learning have them complete the Intuit for Education Personal Finance course. You can sign up as an instructor and provide a course code to your students to sign up. They should complete the following units from the Self-Paced Personal Finance course and completing the quiz at the end of each unit: Becoming Financially Literate, Exploring Budgeting Basics, Managing Credit, Applying for Student Loans. These units are similar in content and length to the units in the ECMC Learning site.]
Go to ECMC Learning, a free financial wellness site partnered with UCC. You will need to create an account using your student ID number to access the activities. When you have signed in to your account, you should see 3 School Assignments. Click on the “courses” link at the top and then “show courses” this should show a drop down menu. Select “Budget Basics” and then click the “Get started” button. This will add Budget Basics as a self-directed course on your home page. You should now have 4 courses listed on the home page that you will complete. You
do not have to do them all at once. The courses save as you go, so you can do a little bit at a time. For each course you complete, you will receive a completion code. Paste/type the complete code for each course below.
Submit your completion codes for the following Courses:
Financial Basics:
Budget Basics:
Managing Credit:
Managing Student Loan Debt:
Activity 3.2 Creating a Budget
[Instructors: The Intuit for Education Personal Finance course also has an option for a Budget Calculator your students can use. You can also find other free budget calculators online.]
After you have completed the courses on the ECMC Learning site, click on the “Portfolio” tab at the top of the page. This will show you your progress on portfolio completion. Scroll down to the Tan colored box that shows the steps of your portfolio (see image below). You will have finished steps 1 and 2. Go to step 3 and create a budget for yourself then answer the questions below.
- Based on your monthly budget, think about what your weekly spending, income, and savings should be. Track
your spending and savings for the week then reflect on how well you were able to follow your budget plan - What issues, challenges, or situations do you think might make it more difficult for you to follow your budget
plan? - What steps can you take to help you course correct when you deviate from your budget plan?
Activity 3.3 Understanding Credit
[Instructors: You can use any free, online credit score quiz in place of the first link.]
Please complete the following activities:
- Take this short Credit Score Quiz.
- Play the Wall Street Journal’s Credit-Score Game Play a minimum of two times, choosing a different starting point. Make sure you read through the feedback you receive on each of your turns.
- Play this interactive game Cat Insanity Make sure you read about the different components of the game after you have finished.
After completing these activities, answer the questions below:
- List 2 examples of actions that can harm your credit score.
- List 2 examples of actions that can improve your credit score.
- What is compounding interest?
- What can you do to avoid increasing your debt?
- How often can you examine your credit report for free?
- What can you do at this point in your life to build your credit?
Activity 3.4 Schedule an Appointment with the Scholarship Coordinator
[Instructors: If your school doesn’t have a scholarship coordinator, please insert the most relevant position that would be able to meet with students such as Financial Aid, Advising, etc.]
Please schedule an appointment with the Scholarship Coordinator at your school. Try to get an appointment as soon as you are able to for at least 30 minutes. During your appointment address the questions on your worksheet.
Make sure to address the following questions at your appointment:
- What is required in order to keep the scholarships I’m eligible for or have received?
- Are there any other scholarship forms, in addition to FAFSA, that need to be completed for UCC based
scholarships? - When are scholarships disbursed?
- How will withdrawing, dropping, and failing a class impact my scholarships?
- What scholarship scams should I be aware of?
- What is work-study?
Activity 3.5 Filing Your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
[Instructors: Make sure students know not to send any other information to you, just evidence that their FAFSA was completed. If they have already filed their FAFSA they only need to submit an image showing the email saying that it is accepted and complete.]
You should file your FAFSA after October 1 each year for the next academic year. File your FAFSA online if you haven’t yet. Once your FAFSA has been accepted you will receive an email indicating that it has been successfully processed. Please open this email and take a screenshot. Only include the Email subject line which will show the year (2025-2026) and the greeting with your name to verify that you have completed your form. Do not include any other information.
Activity 3.6 Scholarship Opportunities Discussion
Go to [your school]’s website and browse the available scholarship resources:
You can also browse the following scholarship databases outside of [your school]:
https://www.collegescholarships.org/financial-aid/Links to an external site.
https://www.scholarships.com/financial-aid/college-scholarships/scholarship-directory/residence-state/oregonLinks to an external site.
https://accessscholarships.com/blog/50-scholarships-for-college-studentsLinks to an external site.
Additionally, you can do your own Google search for scholarship databases
In your initial post, you will discuss 2 different college scholarships that you learned about. One of the two scholarships should be related to your career interest or major, the other can be for anything. Address the following questions for each scholarship:
- What is the scholarship amount offered?
- When are applications due and how often?
- How many recipients can be awarded the scholarship each time it is offered?
- What are the eligibility requirements for the scholarship?
- What is required to complete the scholarship application?
Please make sure you are not sharing resources that another student has already posted about.
Read the initial post of three of your peers, then add your reply by clicking the reply button. Please make sure you follow the Netiquette guidelines post that you read in the Course Info page. Your replies should be thoughtful, encouraging, and between 50-150 words in length.
