iGrad teaches personal finance lessons
Navigating all the ways to create a budget and pay for college can feel like wandering through a labyrinth. To help make sense of it all, University of Phoenix has partnered with iGrad, an online financial education company, to help current and prospective students understand their financial situations and how to afford an education.
The University of Phoenix iGrad website features tools that show how to fit tuition in with other expenses and debts, taking into account fixed costs such as housing, insurance and car payments, and variable ones like credit cards, grocery bills and child care. Anyone using the website’s tools should have a clearer picture of personal budgets and expenses.
Chris Conway, a member of the University’s Repayment Management team, says iGrad rolled out during Fall 2012. To reap the greatest benefit from the program, she encourages you to complete an online profile so iGrad can deliver the most relevant information from its vast content library.
"Creating an account is simple and takes just a couple of minutes," Conway explains, adding that as a result, content is pushed to you based on your topics of interest and experience.
Once you've created an account, you'll find brief articles and short videos featuring industry experts covering topics like financial aid, money management and student loans. For those who like to learn from and share information with others, a discussion forum fosters interaction among everyone in the iGrad community — including those from other universities.
Activities, calculators and games provide more hands-on engagement and in-depth tutoring-style experiences. There are even how-to resources covering student loans, repayment plans and scholarships.
