Penn State Live - Penn State Extension offers help for managing money in tough times

Penn State Extension offers help for managing money in tough times

Monday, February 9, 2009

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State Cooperative Extension is teaming up with other land-grant universities to help people manage money through tough times with a Web site that harnesses the knowledge of financial experts across the country.

The site, "Financial Security: Managing Money in Tough Times," can be found at http://www.extension.org/financial_crisis. The initiative is part of eXtension, an interactive learning environment delivering research-based knowledge from land-grant universities across America. The site connects visitors to articles on all facets of personal finance, organized for business, family, farm/ranch, individual and youth resources. The reports and articles reflect the "best of the best" information from university-based extension experts on financial matters, said Marilyn Corbin, Penn State Cooperative Extension associate director and state program leader for children, youth and families.

"For more than 100 years, Cooperative Extension has provided programs and training for resource-stressed families across the country, so this is not unusual -- it's just higher on the nation's radar screen now," she said. "People are looking for good ideas on managing their finances more effectively, and by getting information out to people via the Internet, we can help them to think about how to modify behavior to save money. Some people may not attend a neighborhood meeting on family finances, so we try other approaches in providing educational information."

The site also offers timely financial tools such as PowerPay debt-reduction calculation software, homebuyer education, bankruptcy-prevention education, agribusiness decision-making tools and many other financial resources, as well as an "ask-the-experts" function for more in-depth questions. More articles and resources will be added to the site as they are developed.

Dozens of free Extension publications on a variety of financial and consumer literacy topics are available online at http://consumerissues.cas.psu.edu/pubs.html. Single copies of these and other publications can be obtained free of charge by Pennsylvania residents through county Penn State Cooperative Extension offices, or by contacting the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Distribution Center at (814) 865-6713 or by e-mail at AgPubsDist@psu.edu. For cost information on out-of-state or bulk orders, contact the Publications Distribution Center.