Financial Literacy for More Than 7,100 Students in North Rhine-Westphalia
How do I manage my money? What can I afford? What types of insurance do I need, and what should I look for when signing a contract? Through the “Student Academy for Financial Literacy,” the University of Siegen provides young people with practical knowledge about money, consumption, and economic decisions. The program is proving popular: To date, over 100 sessions have been held at schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, reaching more than 7,500 students. In the current funding phase, the program has also been expanded to include vocational colleges and special education schools.
“These days, many young people no longer learn at home how to handle money and financial matters responsibly. This is partly because their parents themselves lack the necessary skills. Our goal is therefore to bring this knowledge into schools,” explains project manager Manuel Froitzheim from the University of Siegen.
The Student Academy for Financial Literacy is a hands-on educational program offered by Digital Economic Education (DiWiS) at the University of Siegen in collaboration with the North Rhine-Westphalia Financial Literacy Network. To equip young people early on with the skills they need to handle financial matters independently, the team organizes project days at schools and in extracurricular learning settings. The program is free of charge for participating educational institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The program centers on interactive learning stations where students explore financial topics independently and in a hands-on manner. Topics include budget planning, saving, insurance, loans, investments, and signing contracts. In doing so, the young people grapple with situations that are directly relevant to their daily lives and their future paths. “Keeping track of one’s own expenses is becoming increasingly difficult in the age of digitalization. Young people use private financial service providers like PayPal without a legal basis—yet some no longer even know what a checking account is,” says Manuel Froitzheim.
He and his team have also observed that young people do not sufficiently question the information they receive through social media channels: “For example, influencers explain how you can become a millionaire in a few weeks through certain investments, such as in cryptocurrencies. However, I’m not aware of a single case where that has actually happened so easily,” explains Froitzheim. On the other hand, he frequently observes young people taking out subscriptions or spending money in apps or online games without even realizing it.
In the current funding phase, which runs through December 31, 2028, the program has been further developed and expanded to include additional types of schools, with a particular focus on vocational high schools and special education schools. Tailored programs have been developed for these school types to account for the students’ diverse backgrounds and life experiences. The project team is building on the experiences gained in previous years, explains Manuel Froitzheim: “For example, we have adapted the teaching materials and designed them so that even young people with learning disabilities can work with them. In this way, we aim to embed financial education even more broadly in North Rhine-Westphalia. Our experience so far shows that this works well.”
The Student Academy is part of the project “Strengthening Financial Consumer Competence—Developing Innovative, Action-Oriented Educational Programs,” through which the University of Siegen, on behalf of the state government, is developing concepts and educational programs for economic consumer education. The Ministry of Agriculture and Consumer Protection is funding the project with a total of 765,500 euros. In addition to organizing student academies in all regions of North Rhine-Westphalia, the university develops learning materials on financial literacy, trains facilitators and student teachers, and coordinates the “North Rhine-Westphalia Financial Literacy Network.”
