Financial Literacy and Education Commission Public Meeting Minutes

February 4, 2016

U.S. Department of the Treasury – Cash Room

Opening Remarks 

Melissa Koide, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consumer Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury opened the 

meeting describing its focus. She explained the purpose of the meeting was to hear about leading practices in 

postsecondary education and the financial inclusion effort underway at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

Ms. Koide gave an overview of the agenda and introduced Secretary Jacob Lew, 76th Secretary of the U.S. 

Department of the Treasury and Chair of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission. 

Secretary Lew thanked the member FLEC agencies for the progress made on financial education efforts and 

recognized the importance of the Commission’s role in fostering interagency collaboration. Secretary Lew went 

on to discuss the importance of forming sound financial habits early in life and the importance of access to safe 

and affordable financial products in adulthood. He recounted the December financial inclusion forum and the 

recent progress that has followed by way of private sector commitments. 

As Secretary Lew continued, he discussed the Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund, and the important 

research efforts it supports. The Secretary also mentioned the new starter retirement savings account, myRA. 

This tax season, Treasury is working with tax service providers around the country to make sure Americans 

know they can automatically save part of their tax refund in a myRA account. Secretary Lew closed with a call 

for action, saying agencies can use their unique role as funders, rule makers and managers of programs to 

connect more people to financial products and services. 

Next, John B. King, Jr., Acting Secretary of the U.S Department of Education, reaffirmed the Department’s 

commitment to financial literacy efforts. Mr. King described the work the department is undertaking to make 

college accessibility and affordability central to our mission as a country. Advances he noted included making 

the FAFSA easier to fill out by way of the use of past tax returns and the introduction of the College Scorecard, 

a tool that provides helpful information to students and families as they select a university. 

Mr. King raised concerns about students who finish high school without the skills for success, and reiterated 

that helping students make good financial decisions regarding their education coincides with the goals of the 

Department. Mr. King also shared the U.S. Department of Education’s focus on the completion challenge, 

pointing out that the most expensive degree is the one you do not finish. Mr. King closed by saying that 

education remains the best investment one can make, and that it is important to make that accessible for all. 

Next, Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, spoke about the Bureau’s role 

helping young people make informed decisions about paying for college and managing their money while in 

college. Mr. Cordray discussed one persistent concern: the marketing of banking products to students on college 

campus across the Unites States. In December, the CFPB sent warning letters to 17 colleges, directing them to 

improve their public disclosure of school sponsored credit card agreements. The CFPB also released the Safe 

Student Account Toolkit to help schools approach agreements with financial institutions. 
Mr. Cordray touched on the CFPB’s participation in Treasury’s recent financial inclusion forum and pointed out 

the 68 million Americans are financially underserved and over 70 million Americans report having no 

emergency savings. For those who have difficulty navigating the financial marketplace, small financial missteps 

or surprises can have huge negative consequences. 

Panel: Leading Practices in Postsecondary Education 

Ms. Koide welcomed Mark Mitsui, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges, U.S. Department of 

Education, to begin moderating the panel. Mr. Mitsui spoke briefly of the importance of financial education 

around post-secondary education decisions, and other aspects of managing complex financial lives facing 

students. He noted that many students are those who have been considered “non-traditional” with jobs and 

families. Mitsui underscored the importance of financial literacy for these students in attaining degree 

completion. 

Jeff Webster, Director of Research for the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TG), spoke of several 

discrete but related research studies conducted by his organization. TG works in consultation with the National 

Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. He shared that stakes are high for borrowers – they run 

the risk of wage garnishment, redirected tax refunds and damaged credit scores. Mr. Webster indicated that the 

best method of reducing defaults is through loan counselling and cited the U.S Department of Education’s 

online loan counselling tool. 

TG’s findings indicate that loan counseling is often text-heavy and lacks customization. Mr. Webster did find 

that schools are cross training across departments, taking holistic approaches to students’ finances and targeting 

efforts. He then shared that marketing financial education, providing in person counseling, and using a peer-topeer model for advising are promising practices being employed by colleges. 

Bryan Ashton, Assistant Director, Student Life, Student Wellness Center, Ohio State University and Co-Chair, 

National Summit on Collegiate Financial Wellness, shared (a summary of the activities of the Financial 

Wellness Center. They work to provide a comprehensive support package that helps students develop financial 

capability, address financial stress, anticipate and ride through a financial crisis. 

Mr. Ashton discussed how mandatory one-on-one coaching sessions, group workshops and online interventions 

are used by the Student Wellness Center. Working with 32 partner offices on campus, they act as a convener 

trying to help pinpoint and prevent problems for students. Their findings from the National Student Financial 

Wellness Study include high levels of student financial stress, financial concerns trickling into academic 

progress, financial education being low and finances being interconnected to other areas. Lastly he spoke of 

their National Summit of Collegiate Financial Wellness study that unites individuals, practitioners, researchers 

and policy makers on the issue of college financial capability. 

Betty Habershon, Director of Office of Service-Learning, at the Community Financial Center for Prince 

George's Community College, provided insight into the role that the college plays for both students and 

residents of the county. In Prince George’s County, over 68,000 residents and 24,000 children live under the 

poverty line. As a result their community college plays a huge role in the financial capability of community 

members. 

Ms. Habershon highlighted their VITA program, established 14 years ago, as an important foundation to 

financial asset building in Prince George’s County with $1.5 million in refunds processed for both students and 

members of the community. Ms. Habershon went on to inform the Commission of the Prince George’s CASH 

Campaign, a coalition of over 40 asset building organizations, with a focus on financial capability to provide all 

services in one location. She noted the launch of the Financial Empowerment Center in fall 2015 located on the 

Prince George’s Community College campus which is in partnership with United Way of the National Capital 

Area. 
FLEC members and panelists discussed a number of topics related to the origin of the programs identified and 

how they could be replicated at other institutions. Panelists noted that organizational leadership was a key 

factor. They also noted that understanding the context of students’ lives was important. Mr. Webster shared 

that schools which served more disadvantaged population prioritized default prevention and thus leadership was 

often from the student aid administrators. All of the panelists noted the resourcefulness of colleges developing 

programs with limited resources. 

The group also discussed the value of creating tools and strategies that are fun and user-tested. They also 

discussed the value of reaching students in high school, and even earlier especially with earlier access to 

financial aid information. Also covered was the need for students and community residents to continue the 

financial capability conversation at home and in the community, and to have multiple touch-points. 

Increasingly more institutions and more offices at those institutions are focused on this topic. 

Next Steps on Financial Inclusion: Report from the US Financial Inclusion Forum 

The conversation then turned to the recent Financial Inclusion forum held at Treasury. The forum featured a 

group of financial institutions, businesses, and nonprofits that announced specific initiatives that will accelerate 

progress on financial inclusion efforts in the United States and worldwide. One of the outcomes of the forum 

was a discussion of the role of government in accelerating financial inclusion. Ms. Koide highlighted the rulemaking authority of FLEC members and shared the need to provide safe safeguards for consumers when 

developing innovation friendly tools. She described a few of the private sector commitments made, specifically 

JP Morgan and PayPal, described here (New Financial Inclusion Initiatives Launched at Treasury USAID 

Forum). 

Ms. Koide then introduced Alexia Latortue, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Development 

Policy at the US Department of the Treasury. Ms. Latortue shared five broad messages with the Commission. 

She noted the case for financial inclusion was clear: at the individual/household level, two billion people 

globally are excluded from the formal financial system. Despite these figures, there has been rapid progress 

since 2011 – the percentage of adults worldwide with access to formal financial services increased from 51 

percent to 62 percent. Ms. Latortue indicated that while this is progress, there is still a long way to go. She also 

indicated that financial inclusion is at an inflection point – with great benefits to be gained from the recent 

policy tailwinds. Another inflection point Ms. Latortue mentioned were the recent advances in technology and 

the promise of digital financial inclusion. Ms. Latortue shared that mobile technology is driving many financial 

services innovations, including mobile money and smart phone applications. These technologies can reach 

underserved users in their communities, without the need for costly infrastructure or “brick and mortar” 

branches, revolutionizing business models in the financial sector. She continued with effective usage being a 

concern for both policymakers and service providers. She closed by sharing Treasury’s unique position to 

elevate financial inclusion as an issue among different convening platforms such as the G20 and discussed her 

colleagues work within the Office of Technical Assistance and amongst Multilateral Development Banks. 

Transitioning, Ms. Koide turned the attention of the Commission to Treasury’s recent budget proposals, the first 

of which devotes funding to the development of products and services designed to help low- to moderateincome workers build their savings. The second proposes the creation accounts for young people tied to first 

time employment opportunities coming through municipalities at the state and local level. Ms. Koide also 

mentioned funding for a new loan loss reserve product program through the CDFI Fund. Ms. Koide informed 

members of the Commission that there were updates on each of the committees in their folders. Ms. Koide then 

opened the floor for the Commission to make announcements. 
Commission members discussed the topic of financial inclusion. One topic raised was whether the discussion 

included access to capital markets. Ms. Koide and Ms. Latortue responded that much of the focus had been in 

safe and affordable savings and transaction products. There was agreement that both agencies would continue to 

work together to offset risk on behalf of consumers. 

Director Cordray then spoke regarding the 10 percent of Americans who remain unbanked and explored the 

reasons behind the figure. He outlined the business case for no-overdraft products that would enable 7-8 percent 

to re-enter the banking system. 

Commission Announcements 

Cristina Miranda of the Federal Trade Commission announced enhancements to identitytheft.gov and solicited 

cooperation from fellow agencies to promote it. The site features a personal recovery plan and pre-filled letters 

to send to credit bureaus, businesses and debt collectors. 

The Research Committee reported that Susan Shockey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has retired. 

Research has been a priority of the FLEC for some time and Ms. Koide supported USDA’s effort to fill her 

vacancy. 

The Financial Capability College and Career Readiness for Young People Committee recently finished their 

realigning around FLEC’s priorities: integrating finance capability programs, improving outreach efforts 

corresponding to federal resources and improving policy and regulatory connections. 

The OCC released their bimonthly financial literacy update, which reaches over 30,000 subscribers. Copies are 

available at occ.gov/flu. The OCC has participated in several events with regard to age friendly banking to 

improve financial services for older adults. 

Concluding Remarks 

Ms. Koide thanked the participants for attending the meeting and shared that the next public meeting of the 

Commission will be held later in 2016.