The American Education Foundation (AMEDF)’s community education initiative offers classes and couseling resources to help families make better decisions in their college investment and gain financial literacy skills necessary for financial success. AMEDF prgorams incorporate resources and materials from government agencies, non-profit and other community organizations and are held in conjunction with community partners like libraries and schools.

For qualified organizations, AMEDF provides program materials and instructors free of charge. The following programs are available for organizations interested in sponsoring or hosting a college planning or financial literacy event in conjunction with the AMEDF.

College Planning Workshops:

Complete Guide to College Funding

Sponsored by AMEDF, this program teaches families how to better prepare for college by enhancing student motivation, improving academic preparation and utilizing financial aid to make even the most expensive college affordable.  Running continuously since 1997, this is the most highly regarded program in the AMEDF lineup.

Career Options & College Majors

This informative AMEDF program helps parents and students identify and research career options uniquely matched to a student’s individual profile and connect their future career aspirations to the right curriculum to major in during college.

College Selection

This AMEDF program teaches participants to compare and contrast more than 5,000 post-secondary college options based on admissions, curriculum, net cost to attend, financial aid offered and other critical factors to find the most suitable school.  Program resources incorporate materials from the College Board, and the Department of Education.

College Advising Essentials Volume 1

College Advising Essentials Volume 2

Financial Aid for College

This program is designed to sort through the maze of federal, state, institutional and private sources of financial aid including grants, scholarships, loans and work-study to help students identify and obtain the aid needed to afford college.

Financial Aid Essentials

College Financing and Preparation

The dramatic recent increase in education debt means more and more students will experience hardship in the future when loan payments are due.  This program shows families how to determine an appropriate level of debt for college and illustrates how debt repayment will affect lifestyle after college.  Program resources incorporate materials from the National Association of College Admissions Counselors and the Department of Education.

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy

Sponsored by The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, this program addresses such topics as “Freshman Finance 101: Money Management Skills for College Students” and “College students and credit cards: What you don’t know can hurt you.”

Financial Literacy Workshops:

Financial Planning 101

From the National Endowment for Financial Education, this program teaches you how to achieve financial security and make sure your money is working for you in a way that enables you to fulfill your life’s goals. To achieve financial security, you need to create a financial plan that serves as a roadmap for how you will manage your money on an ongoing basis. You will learn how to define your money goals, identify steps to reach those goals, and then following through with those steps. Many other smart ideas for saving, spending, and protecting your money will be reviewed.

Planning for Retirement

Utilizing materials from MyMoney.gov and the Financial Literacy & Education Commission, this program teaches you how to manage retirement savings, better understand and evaluate investment fees & expenses and coordinate social security and other entitlement benefits.

Money Tips at All Ages – Your Finances at Different Stages of Life

Sponsored by FDIC, this course offers tips and strategies for handling your finances at different stages of life.  Ideal for a wide target audience including Youth, Elderly/Seniors, Caretakers, and Young Adults and can be customized to fit a particular target audience.

Women and Retirement Services

Women face many challenges in saving for retirement. This program incorporates materials from the Department of Labor to highlight some of those issues and provides tips to help women get started in saving for retirement.

Smart Strategies for Home Ownership Series

A customizable program utilizing materials from a host of government agencies including the Comptroller of the Currency, FDIC, Department of Health & Human Services, Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve, this curriculum contains modules to cover a host of home-specific topics including tips for shopping for a mortgage, f oreclosure scams and prevention, making home ownership affordable, reverse mortgages, home equity lines of credit, traditional mortgages and adjustable mortgages.

Money Smart

Sponsored by the FDIC, this financial education curriculum is designed to help individuals outside the financial mainstream enhance their financial skills and create positive banking relationships.

Rejuvenate Your Retirement

This comprehensive AMEDF course covers all the key issues for retirees including how to stay mentally, physically and socially active as well as learn about important financial topics such as tax reduction planning, investment risk management, health care planning and estate planning.