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Martin Kehoe (kneeling front) with YPC choristers and
PwC colleagues on May 9
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Thanks to Martin Kehoe, a YPC board
member and partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, 10 YPC chorus members in grades 9
to 12 took part in a College Bound Financial Literacy workshop on Saturday, May
9. This is the first Financial Literacy workshop initiated by PwC, which is
being integrated into YPC’s College Bound program.
Mr. Kehoe arrived at YPC early on
May 9 with 11 colleagues from PwC eager to share their professional and
personal knowledge about how to pay for college with the 10 high school
freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
Mr. Kehoe and PwC believe financial literacy is critical for young
people, especially in this day and age, when having this information will make
it possible for young people to pursue their dreams of higher education.
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PwC mentors and YPC choristers
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The PwC mentors worked one-on-one
with the chorus members, many of whom are the first in their families to apply
for college and so had no idea of how to begin the process of applying and
paying for a college education. The workshop provided them with invaluable
information and personalized advice on where to find help, how to read a
financial aid package, and what such terms as scholarships, grants, and loans
actually mean. They shared their own experiences and missteps and gave the
choristers tips on where money might be available for their educations.
Every single one of youngsters
attending the workshop pronounced the experience as “extremely helpful” or
“helpful,” and they all remarked on how comfortable they felt asking questions
of their advisors.
Using the resources provided at the workshop, the seniors
said they were now prepared to investigate the different ways of paying for
college.
The juniors planned to learn more about budgeting for
college and what schools would be a good fit.
And there were some surprises:
One freshmen was amazed to hear that although private
colleges are generally more expensive, sometimes it will cost less to attend a
private college than a public college.
Another said, “I never thought about scholarships before
today!”
And one junior remarked, “I learned that large colleges are
not so bad after all.”
In the coming season PwC will be
providing customized workshops appropriate for choristers in grades 3 through
12, covering aspects of financial literacy a child should know at every stage
in their life from piggy banks to pensions.
Mr. Kehoe said, “The plan is to be
sure that by the time they go to college, all YPC choristers will know how to
balance a checkbook and the basics of finance.”
