The information presented so far has come from the two following sources: 1) http://www.financialliteracyincanada.com/report/report-013-eng.html 2)http://www.ousa.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/The-Illiteracy-of-the-Literate-June01.

pdf The first is a report issued by a task force specifically focusing on Financial Literacy in Canada. The second is a report by CASA from 2010 that focused on financial illiteracy. It is obvious that there is a growing problem in Canada in regards to how informed Canadians as a whole are about their finances. This problem is ever growing with youth, with tuition being at an all-time high, many students are faced with managing debt throughout their undergraduate and graduate studies. How a student manages this debt, and the prudent financial decisions that they make will have dramatic effects on their career and perhaps the rest of their life. McMaster Students Union advocates for, and provides many valuable services to students however, we do not yet sufficiently teach them about financial literacy. Student loans in Canada are extremely complicated, and allocated to individuals with the least amount of experience with consumer loans. Many students are not well informed on the financial aid system in place, with nearly 75% of students surveyed in pan-Canadian survey on financial literacy failing a basic financial aid literacy test. Even more concerning, a significant number of students are not aware of the money that is in fact available to them through government loans, grants and bursaries. Those who are aware of the aid options available, fail to understand the details on repayment and interest rates, ultimately leading to them having to pay much more than initially expected. Students are struggling to pay off their loans, stay in school, and make ends meet. The lack of financial literacy amongst university students has inherently detrimentally impacted their lives. These loans are often thrown at students, and they make decisions without sufficient information. Phrases such as Interest Free and Dont pay until years after graduation are extremely enticing. Students need to be made aware of what their options are, and how they should be managing debt. Here are some important statistics to highlight the problem. They are a result of the Canadian Student Survey (surveying 20,000 students on financial literacy: 54.8% of students were unaware of the assistance available to them if they are to run unto trouble in paying off their debts after graduation 75% of students failed a basic financial aid literacy test 23% of students correctly identified that the government does not always take parental income into consideration 48% of students did not realize there were loans available for part time students 1 in 8 non-loan recipients did not apply for aid because they did not have the knowledge on how to take out a loan What we propose the MSU does:

Create a policy that stipulates that the MSU annually spend a week promoting financial literacy, preferably at the start of a semester, when students have just paid for school. That the External Affairs committee create a web page that gives students links to all financial resources. Lots of students dont know where to get information. From EA Meeting on 14/02/12: Having drop in information sessions on Financial Aid Literacy counselling during the first week of March. Some sort of viral campaign would be nice

Food for thought- MSU creates a financial aid service, that facilitates students talking to students about money issues. https://portal.utoronto.ca/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp? tab=community&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/courseMain?course_id=_313209_1

Task Force on financial literacy- What applies to students http://www.financialliteracyincanada .com/report /report-008-eng.html The report specifically focuses on the impact that financially literacy has on students in Canada. The biggest issue facing undergraduate students is a lack of awareness about what is available to them. Only 31 percent of students knew that to qualify for a loan they may be subject to a credit check, and just 23 percent were aware that student loan interest begins to accrue immediately upon graduation. In my opinion this is obviously an extremely damaging stat, I know it has been alluded to before by Huzaifa but this is something that we can run a campaign on, or pass on to next year. 4.3 million students have borrowed roughly 32 billion since 1964. This means that roughly 3 million of the students probably did not know what they were getting themselves into, which is potentially damaging and can harm their future financial stability. The task force recommends that the Canadian student loan program have mandatory financial literacy training, doing so on campus can only serve as an added resource. In addition to it being a mandatory resource the task force recommends that there be further mandatory training for aboriginal students, even urban aboriginal students. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investor-education/10-tips-to-improve-canadasfinancial-literacy/article1361343/ Very interesting article on 10 tips to improve financial literacy, if we were to do a campaign a good resource in my opinion. The third reason is relevant: 3 - Assign the highest importance to starting young. The older you are, the more entrenched are behaviours and the harder it is to

change. Look at seat belts. Most children today won't ride in a car without a seat belt. The kids force parents to wear them. I now wear mine all the time. They, more than laws, changed me. New modified behaviour in one generation! http://practicalmoneyskills.ca/personalfinance/lifeevents/university/ This free website offers information of how to be financially literate at certain points in peoples lives, i.e buying a care or conveniently going to university! http://practicalmoneyskills.ca/personalfinance/lifeevents/university/financing.php More tips on saving money, especially starting early. This may be outside our MSU domain but we can lobby our educational partners in high schools about the importance of saving. Imagine if it was mandatory for all high school students to save money they make??? http://abclifeliteracy.ca/mm/main Money Maters is a program done by ABC life literacy program who attempt to money management skills and financial savings tips. The program is run in partnership with TD Canada trust, and has a multi stage program I believe. One thing we could look at would be doing a sponsored campaign, it would save us money and get a lot of quality info out there. http://www.cfee.org/cgi-bin/go.cgi?lang=en&file=/en/about.shtml The Canadian foundation for economic education has been founded since 1974. While it does not have as good of a website. There are lots of resources out there, and lots of campaigns to mimic, doing a financial literacy campaign should be feasible for the fall next year. http://www.cica.ca/news/media-centre/item52894. pdf This report was released by Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) on September 28th, 2011 and primary objective was to develop an understanding of youths (16-18) and young adults (19-22) attitudes, awareness and understanding towards financial matters. The data analyzed in this report is attained from primary research by conducting surveys of 1209 individuals across Canada. This report outlined the need for financial literacy among youth as the key findings state that 43% of student surveyed had a budget, 52% track their spending and 27% do not limit their spending. The cause of worry is from the use of credit cards as 54% of the young adults carry a credit card and 22% out of those carry a balance. Moreover, 85% of the individuals agreed that impulse spending is a big problem for teenagers with credit cards. 58% of Young adults (19-22) outlined the responsibility of the government of to provide financial literacy assistance.

The survey also asked the individuals to grade their parents on money management skills and only 28% of them gave their parents top mark of "A". This shows that the individuals don't feel comfortable that they have been taught exceptional money management skills and, which outlines a need for Post Secondary Institutions to implement a financial literacy assistance support program as those students choose to pursue further education will have to make tougher financial decisions and having not enough knowledge could only hinder their financial position. http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/eng/resources/PDFs/YouthFinLit2008-eng.pdf Youth Financial Literacy study performed in 2008 by the Financial consumer agency of Canada on young adults aged 19 to 29. Key findings state less than one in four (23%) report ever taking a course or training session in personal finance. And, of those who have done so did in college/university. There is an interest in personal finances as 26% of the individuals surveyed were interested in financial budgeting. Debt: Six out of ten reported carrying some debt and out of those, 65% individuals carrying credit card debt and 44% carrying student loans. 37% of Canadians surveyed reported there has been at least one month in the past year where they had a shortfall and weren't able to cover their expenses and this number rises to 56% among those who are responsible for a child. 35% of the individuals with a shortfall used a credit card to cover their expenses. http://www.td.com/document/PDF/economics/special/cj1111_fin_literacy.pdf I decided to include just the article because it talks about the impact of financial literacy early on in life leading to better financial prosperity. But, the findings in the article are from the U.S.