Virtually Free Virtual Learning

MoneyU to be Offered Virtually Free to Schools Until June 1, 2010

ROCKVILLE, MD (September 22, 2009) MoneyU®, the award-winning, game-based online education course designed to build core financial skills and acumen in young adults, will now be offered virtually free to qualifying educational institutions. The offer is aimed at teaching high school seniors and college freshmen about personal finance and will be available until June 1, 2010. Griffin Enterprises, creator of MoneyU®, must include a $4 fee for each learner to defray its costs to develop and deliver the program and the offer. Until June 1, individuals whose schools don’t take advantage of the virtually free offer can purchase MoneyU® online for $14.95, 70 percent less than the $49.95 at which it was available prior to this offer. Please visit www.moneyu.com for details.

The offer is aimed at addressing the critical need to provide young adults the practical money skills and experience necessary to be successful in the challenging environment they are about to enter. More than 84 percent of college students have a credit card and half have more than four credit cards; debt is the biggest reason for dropping out of school; students leave college with an average loan debt of more than $20,000, and student debt is rising faster than starting salaries for new graduates. These same students say they don’t know enough about personal finances and scores in this area show that student knowledge about personal financial issues is worsening.

“I have recognized financial literacy as a growing problem since I started teaching parents how to educate their kids about money in workshops in the Washington D.C. area,” said founder and President Kathy Griffin. “Parents themselves said they needed to know how to manage money, so I knew that we needed a new vehicle to engage students and provide all the information students need to help them learn how to make good decisions and judgments about financial issues. MoneyU® is a solution that works.”

MoneyU® contains 120 lessons and tasks covering eight different topics from savings, banking and planning to credit card issues, managing debt and maintaining a good credit score. Students learn by playing a highly interactive game that teaches how to manage personal finances, make smart financial decisions and use sound financial strategies. Just as in real life, the student players are confronted with chance events that may adversely affect their net worth or credit score. Widgets make the learning fun and calculators using the students’ own data make the learning real. The learner remains engaged by trying to become a virtual millionaire, maximizing their net worth and credit score.

The game-based learning is an effective tool for students because it is engaging, interactive, and captures the attention of today’s digital generation of students. The content catches students at a time when young adults are seriously considering their future or embarking on their first truly independent living.

“We know that MoneyU® works based on independent review by outside experts. We found that only 20 percent of the students can pass the pre-test, but 98 percent passed the final test required at the completion of the course,” Griffin said. “Plus, we have hundreds of testimonials from students and teachers who say that they learned from and enjoyed MoneyU®.”

Students such as Amanda Renfroe of Newport News, VA who have used MoneyU® attest to its ease of learning and its effectiveness in teaching about credit, debt, and financial planning. “Once I started, I didn’t want to stop playing the game. At the time, I didn’t realize I was absorbing all that financial information. The game is very easy to use, and when you make a mistake, that’s when the true learning takes place. I was shocked by how easy it is to damage one's credit score: just one late or missed payment can cause it to drop.”

Don Zabelin, who teaches a required personal finance course in Illinois, uses MoneyU® as part of his semester-long class and says the online learning engages the students and helps to bring the content together for them and makes it relevant. For teachers, “MoneyU® is an excellent resource for personal finance. You’ll probably never see a piece of consumer education that will keep students so interested,” he said.

MoneyU® is making the offer to address the lack of personal finance knowledge by the young adult generation leaving high school and entering college. The offer of providing it virtually free to high school seniors and college freshmen through their schools will remain in place until next June 1. However, for the small company to cover its costs, schools will be charged $4 per student to defray its costs to develop and deliver the program and the offer. Once these costs have been recouped, the company intends to distribute 50 percent of any additional funds to two not-for-profit organizations which focus on delivering financial literacy programs to hard-to-reach and underserved populations. The names of the two organizations will be selected from a list of 10 and will be announced in mid-October.

ABOUT MoneyU®

MoneyU® (www.moneyu.com) is an award-winning, highly interactive and engaging game-based financial literacy course that works. The course is designed for young adults age 17 to 24 and uses 120 lessons and tasks covering eight topics to teach practical personal finance skills such as comparing credit cards and auto loans, researching the starting salaries in a chosen field, managing debt, saving for the future and completing a 1040 EZ income tax form. In addition, MoneyU® succeeds, based on the review of independent experts and unsolicited testimonials by students and teachers who have experienced the course. The lessons map to the most up-to-date state and national curriculum standards for personal finance. For more information, please visit www.moneyu.com or visit the MoneyU® on Facebook.

NOTE TO EDITORS, REPORTERS AND PRODUCERS: Kathy Griffin along with teachers and students are available for interviews. Please contact media representative Lynn Kettleson to schedule a convenient time at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (978) 463-7952. Reporters who wish to view the course and/or take the pre-test and compete against fellow reporters for top score should also contact Lynn Kettleson to arrange a login.