In this topic, we cover:
Graduating from college is the beginning of an exciting new chapter of your life. Whether you’re entering the workforce for the first time or reentering it with a new degree, you’ve spent a significant amount of time (and money) preparing for this opportunity.
In college, you learned how to prepare for exams, write papers, and perform up to the standards of your instructors. You were graded on everything you did, so success was always clear and always measured. At many schools, you can even find out exactly how well you performed in college compared with every student in your graduating class.
The skills you developed in school will be crucial for your career, but there are some important differences between success in college and success after college. Most people would define success in college as earning excellent grades and finishing at the top of your class. That’s what class rankings are – an average of the final grades you made in the classes you took in comparison with every other student in your class. If your class rank rises, another student’s rank must drop.
But what if college was a business? The definition of success might be very different. Your class ranking could include the grades of your study group partners or feedback from classmates about how helpful you were in helping them understand the material. It could even include how well your professors like the way you dress and present yourself. And what if your success meant that everyone became more successful?
That’s what this course is about – helping you find success when the meaning of success is changing. In the workplace, success will likely be measured in a broader way than how well you performed on a single test or essay. You’ll be judged on a variety factors that require communication, team building, and problem solving skills. So we’ll spend some time exploring workplace skills and the concept of professionalism.
As you transition out of college, the workplace isn’t the only area in which the meaning of success could change. Compared with most adults, the years you spent pursuing your education were very different in one important way – you weren’t earning an income. True, many students have part-time or seasonal jobs, but financial success as a student typically means minimizing debt, not saving for the future.
As a working adult, how well you manage your financial life can have a significant impact on not just your bank account, but on your success as a professional. With more than half of all employers using credit scores as a screening tool in the hiring process, a poorly managed financial life can cost you more than high interest rates and fees – it can damage your chances of getting the job you want.
Transitioning to the workplace certainly brings new financial responsibilities, but it also brings new opportunities – if you know how to take advantage of them. In this course, you’ll learn how to take full advantage of any employer benefits you may receive, how to create healthy spending habits, how to manage existing debt, and how to start planning for your long-term financial success.
Finally, no single course can address any of the topics covered in the detail required for every situation. We encourage you to use the Favorites Tool to save topics that interest you. These topics – along with any notes you may choose to write – will then appear on your home page. You can then explore them and closely related topics in more detail at a time that’s convenient for you.
Each section of this course includes a checklist. You’ll have the opportunity to save these lists and create a personalized checklist that you can track over time. Checklists are easy to create and can be powerful tools for managing your financial life.
Financial Literacy 101 offers other courses that may be relevant to your situation. Please click the Courses link at the top of each page to learn more about other courses that may be available through your school.
