Financial literacy is understanding and practicing good financial habits, and it has become a topic of major concern everywhere from BYU campus to the U.S. Senate in recent years.

A recent study by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling reported two in five Americans carry credit card balances from month to month.  About the same proportion of Americans said they would give themselves a grade of C or lower for their understanding of personal finance.

David Feitz is the executive director of  the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority. Feitz said basic financial literacy is important for college students.

“Being financially literate is a key element in understanding how to pay for college in the most economical ways,”  he said. “They should understand interest rates and paying down loans. Most of the time students using loans for school is their first exposure to credit.”

Feitz explained a big part is understanding when to use debt and when to avoid it.

“You know the saying: the only thing more expensive than paying for school is to not go to school,” he said. “A degree increases your earning capacity.”

Feitz warned, however, against a few common pitfalls for students.

“I think there are a couple things that gets students into trouble: credit cards and cars,” he said. “It’s good to have a car but your decision needs to be economical.” More…

Utah business leaders shaping the direction of Prosperity 2020 are exploring a number of initiatives to strengthen higher education across the state including mission based funding, cluster acceleration and an increased emphasis on one and two-year programs in high-knowledge and high-skill areas.

Prosperity 2020 is a statewide movement of major business associations to improve public and higher education in Utah.  United in their belief that education is the path to enduring prosperity, Utah business leaders have come together in a multi-year effort with initial goals to ensure 90 percent of elementary school students are proficient in reading and math and that two-thirds of all Utahns hold a postsecondary degree or certificate.

One and two-year programs
While there is a need for educated employees at all levels, many Utah employers say they have an increasing demand for employees with a certificate or an associate degree.

Two-thirds of Utahns holding a postsecondary degree or certificate may seem lofty—and it is—but it’s more within reach when one considers the number of people in our state who left school just a few credits short of a two-year degree or who would financially benefit from earning certification in their chosen profession.

“We are moving into a different economy that has an abundance of jobs that require high knowledge and high skills,” said former commissioner of higher education Dr. Richard Kendell, who also serves as a professor of education leadership and policy at the University of Utah College of Education and an advisor to Prosperity 2020. “We have a particular need for degree and work programs at the one and two year levels.”

Cluster acceleration
Current cluster acceleration projects coordinate Utah’s workforce needs with educational efforts with particular focus on energy, digital media, aerospace and biotechnology. Business leaders like the idea of expanded funding for cluster acceleration projects and for the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) project, which builds Utah’s research and development capacity to develop new companies.

“We need to produce people ready to work in the jobs we’re creating and attracting,” said Dr. Kendell. “Utah’s economy is very diverse but we need to align degree programs and training programs with the emerging workforce needs of the state.”

Mission-based funding
The Prosperity 2020 Founders’ Council is also strongly supportive of mission-based funding for universities and colleges across the state.  This would recognize that research universities and community colleges play very different roles in economic development and educating students, so their funding should also be different.

Success stipends and Regent Scholarships
Utah has the smallest budget of any state in the country for its need-based aid, program, called Success Stipends.  The Prosperity 2020 Founders Council would like to see more aid to students who cannot afford higher education.  They also give high ratings to the Regents Scholarship, which requires students to complete a rigorous high school education.

Prosperity 2020 leaders will continue their discussions regarding investment and innovation in both public and higher education. This fall, they will advance a formal legislative proposal to drive Utah toward the 2020 goals. More…

“So many people work full time and sincerely want to complete their degrees, but simply can’t fit the coursework into their busy schedules,” Communication Department Chair Brent Yergensen said. “We recognize the importance of family and jobs, but we also recognize the importance of earning a college degree. Our Degree Completion Program makes both possible.”

The Organization and Leadership Degree Completion Program (DCP) is overseen by adviser who works with students to achieve success in earning an academic degree. Students who have an associate’s degree or who have completed 60 hours and all general education requirements will work with a cohort to map out a fast track. DCP Students will attend classes only one night per week. Each student will complete one course at a time, usually in four weeks, and then move on to the next course with a different instructor. Additional coursework during each week is completed online and at home.

The Degree Completion Program is a cohort program. Each cohort is a group of up to 30 students who complete the entire program from start to program together. “When you do such an intensive program with this group, you become a family. These students just refuse to let each other fail. We’ve seen it with every cohort,” DSC Communication Department Administrative Secretary Kathleen Briggs said. The team-based learning plan helps students who might otherwise feel disconnected from the educational experience become connected.

To read the rest of this article from stgnews.com, click here.

But this week, standing amid 1,200 two-inch-thick, 10-foot-long flexible nylon poles that tremble to the touch, Lyman allowed it’s more beautiful than he had hoped.

“When the wind blows through, the poles move with it, like grass,” Lyman says. “On a sunny day the shadows and light plays on them.”

Bit on this stormy day, the gray poles, which resemble steel rebar but flex like fly rods, turned the open lot next to the Capitol Theatre into something surreal.

“Sway’d,” which will be opened to the public Friday evening, is temporary. It will be replaced in 18 months by Ballet West’s $32 million dance center. Until then, residents will be able to walk through the field of wands and feel like ants on a putting green.

Lyman won “Fluid Adagio,” a joint Salt Lake City-Salt Lake County competition to make aesthetic use of the empty space where the Absolute restaurant once stood.

“We all knew the winning design would have to be great,” says Greg Walker, chair of the American Institute of Architects’ Young Architect Forum. “Daniel’s piece is spectacular,” he said. “The special thing about ‘Sway’d’ is that it puts into question how you interact with it. Every person is going to have different experience with that.”

To read the rest of this article in the Salt Lake Tribune, click here.

This quote by John F. Kennedy has a lot more meaning to me now that I am attending college. Going to an institution of higher education not only affects those students attending, but also our country as a whole and the society we live in.

Having the privilege to attend college in America is something we, as Americans, must strive to maintain and make better. Unfortunately, there are some Americans who don’t believe going to college will bring any sort of benefit to them or to our society.

In a recent conversation with my sister, I asked her if she was thinking about going back to school. She had just received a promotion at her job, and things were looking up for her. She has never attended any sort of educational institution after graduating from high school other than a few years at a hair school. To answer my question, she ranted about how college is unnecessary for the betterment of her life.

“If the government wants me to go to college, then they should pay me to go, not the other way around,” my sister said.

This conversation set my mind in motion. I don’t believe college is something the government is forcing people to do. The government forces you to attend kindergarten up until your senior year of high school. You attend a college or university if you choose to do so.

On the other hand, I can see where my sister gets her logic. Sometimes it seems as though the government has its dirty hands in every aspect of society, including institutions of higher education. Expending so much time and energy for a letter on a piece of paper may feel tedious and superfluous, making the stresses of college not worth the effort on occasion.

I am guilty of having these feelings countless times throughout each semester. But I have something to say to my sister and to all of you: Being college educated is something to be proud of.

To read the rest of this story from the Dixie Sun, click here.

Raw Couture is held annually to showcase the skills and talents of the Fashion Institute’s Advance Design Class. From design idea to finished garments, each step of the creative process is completed by the student, starting with inspiration and illustrations to pattern making, cutting and sewing. And I must say, a job well done. Congrats to all the students, it was another fabulous show!

Real style is timeless rather than trendy, and first place winner, Sterling Bitsue’s “Oh, So Chic” collection was inspired by Audrey Hepburn and ‘My Fair Lady.’ Professor Higgins took Hepburn’s character from flower girl to high society whereas Bitsue took Hepburn’s influence and turned it into high fashion. “I could picture her in my clothes,” he said, “wearing those long gloves.” Ruffles reinvented as exaggerated collars, hourglass silhouettes, and the rich shimmer of black and gold silk charmeuse kept his winning collection sophisticated yet fresh and new, and oh, so loverly.

To read the rest of this article from IN Utah This Week, click here.

After coming of age during a deep recession, most expect to have a harder time buying a house and saving for retirement than their parents did. More than 4 in 10 predict it will be tougher to raise a family and afford the lifestyle they want, according to an Associated Press-Viacom poll of Americans ages 18 to 24.

Only about a fourth expect things to be easier for them than the previous generation — a cherished goal of many hardworking parents.

“I just don’t really see myself being able to obtain the kind of money my parents could when they were my age,” said Mark McNally, 23, who earned a history degree from the University of Minnesota a year ago and now works part-time in a liquor store.

San Francisco State University nursing student Ashley Yates is confident she’ll build a career in health care but expects money to be tighter in her lifetime. “Social Security may not even exist when I’m older,” said Yates, 23. “Health insurance is going up. Everything just costs more.”

Sounds like a bummer, right? Yet most young adults are shrugging it off. Despite financial disappointments, they overwhelmingly say they’re happy with their lives, much more so than older folks in similar surveys.

Youthful optimism — with perhaps a touch of naivete — lives on. A whopping 90 percent expect to find careers that will bring them happiness, if not wealth.

To read this article in its entirety from the Deseret News, click here.