George Cox, AHFA President, announced completion of the first module in the Hamilton Leaders Academy program of financial literacy. It will be distributed to second year Hamilton Scholars students on October 15th. “We are extremely excited about the program,” said Cox. “Most programs in financial literacy concentrate on stock market games and the like,” he said. “We don't think that's the right approach. Young people have to learn how to control debt and spending before they can begin wealth creation.”

“We want our students to become aware of their spending habits – when, how and above all why they spend money.” The program introduces many basic financial literacy concepts. The centerpiece of the program is budgeting and includes budget development, methods to track actual expenses and methods to calculate variances from budgets.

Several Excel workbooks have been developed exclusively for the use of Hamilton Scholars. The workbooks help students develop and summarize budgets for four college years covering a full 48-month period. It also helps them get a sense in advance of the future value of any student loans they take out during college. This will help them understand and manage their student debt so that they can make a plan as to how they will pay for their college education.

When someone asked Cox why the AHFA was pursuing a program in financial literacy, Cox said, “Alexander Hamilton was probably the greatest financial mind this country – or any country for that matter – has ever produced. Our vision is to preserve his legacy by energizing tomorrow's leaders. I don't see how we could preserve Hamilton's legacy without a major financial component as part of our educational curriculum.”