Founded in 1947, The Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech) is a four-year public
polytechnic university focused on providing a technology-focused higher education that helps
students integrate into real-world workforce demands. As a part of Oregon Tech’s established
values, the Essential Student Learning Outcomes (ESLO)s were developed as a means to reflect
the common expectations about the knowledge, skills, and abilities that Oregon Tech students
will acquire and are reflected in the General Education requirements that lay the foundation upon
which the major curricula build. Engaging in these ESLOs will support Oregon Tech graduates in
developing the habits of the mind and behaviors of professionals and lifelong learners. Through
one of these outcomes, namely Quantitative Literacy, this report established that the concept of
financial literacy is a necessary addition to the Quantitative Literacy ESLO through an
established financial literacy course offered at Oregon Tech to incoming freshmen and transfer
students.
Through secondary research, interviews with key stakeholders on the Oregon Tech campus, and
the distribution of an institution-wide survey that pulled in nearly 300 responses and the
significant statistical analyses conducted afterward, this project made recommendations of key
concept course inclusions for the proposed financial literacy curriculum, such as budgeting
workshops and software tutorials, hands-on workshops with third party sponsorships such as
Edward Jones Investments and the Blue Zones Financial Wellbeing Program, and dedicated
curricula working in partnership with the Financial Aid office to help students understand how to
afford college.
