As you’re here on the CFI Blog, you’re likely familiar with microfinance. But was this the case back when you were in school? It’s April, which means we’re amidst the Month of Microfinance (MoMF), a student-led movement spotlighting microfinance and bridging the gap between students and the sector. This year’s MoMF spans activities engaging students, MFIs, and key industry players, including Kiva, the SEEP Network, and Truelift, supporting access to quality financial services for all and engaging the next generation of microfinance professionals.

Microfinance is increasingly taught in schools, but not everyone has access to a course. The Month of Microfinance offers students a platform to learn about the industry and in turn easily spread the word through their networks. For students looking to organize activities on campus, the MoMF team provides the resources to screen a movie, set-up informative displays, organize fundraisers, and spearhead guest speaker events. A number of MoMF contests conducive to online media conversation are underway. Kiva U, Citi Microfinance, and AboutMicrofinance are hosting a student video competition and an essay competition prompting participants to explore the topics of poverty alleviation, profit management, technology innovation, and gender equality.

For microfinance institutions and other industry stakeholders looking to take part in the movement, there’s a separate video contest hosted by the SEEP Network. Additionally, MoMF is collecting and publishing “autobiographies of microfinance,” which share the experiences and insights of practitioners, clients, and students.

Truelift created a pro-poor quiz for practitioners, available through the MoMF website here, to assess their efforts in serving the poor. The interactive quiz offers constructive feedback on submitted responses, encompassing areas including outreach, data collection, and client monitoring.

Engaging students with microfinance is valuable exposure for both students and the industry.

To get involved with the Month of Microfinance, visit the website here. To take part in MoMF conversations on Twitter, use the hashtag #MoMF14.

Image credit: Jirka Matousek

Have you read?

Engaging Students and Educators in Expanding Financial Inclusion

Education That Pays for Itself

Eager Investors, Conflicted Teachers, Reluctant Students: the Promises and Pitfalls of Teaching Financial Literacy

It’s common knowledge in the United States that the student loan situation is bad and getting worse, but what are the actual statistics and how severe is this trend? Like other kinds of debt, student debt has innumerable implications for young borrowers, as well as for the country’s recovering economy.

A new report from the New America Foundation inspects undergraduate student loan debt data from the past ten years, compiling borrower rates and amounts, in aggregate and by institution and degree type. The report, The Student Debt Review, draws from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Studies, a national survey series of student financial aid. Here are some of the report’s main findings:

• More students are indebted. Across all institution and degree types, the percentage of graduates with debt increased from 54 percent in 2004 to 62 percent in 2012. In 2004 there were 1.6 million graduates with debt. By 2012 there were 2.4 million.
• They owe more. Total student loan debt increased by an average of $3,300 between 2008 and 2012 after a period of four years in which it changed only marginally (2004-2008).
• For-profit colleges are a sore spot. Student debt is increasing especially quickly for bachelor’s degree recipients at private for-profit colleges, who now graduate with an average debt of $40,000 and pay $153 more each month than those graduating with bachelor’s degrees at public colleges. A very high proportion of the bachelor’s degree graduates at private for-profit colleges have borrowed (87 percent), compared to public colleges (64 percent).

Average total debt for bachelor’s borrowers in 2012 was $29,400, and for associates and certificates graduates $17,200 and $13,300. The average annual income for Americans between 25 and 34 years of age is $37,532.

For more on student loan debt, read the New America Foundation report.

Image credit: New America Foundation

Have you read?

Lend to the Student Collect from the Professional

Education That Pays for Itself

$1 Trillion+ in the Red: What Can Debt-Drowned College Students Teach MFIs?