Financial Literacy Advisory Committee
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
10:00 – 3:00 PM
THECB/Lonestar
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Charles Puls
Attendees:
Don Albrecht
Bryan Ashton
Tom Babel
Lorraine Bier
Dwuana Bradley
Toni Bryant
Kevin Cruser
Jim Doris
Laura Ewing
Kenneth Gay
June Giddings
Jud Hicks
Lupe Mares
Trey McCampbell
Jared Pickens
Charles W. Puls
Todd Rogers
Karen Serna
Sonia Townsend
Clint Winters
Justin Yancy
Absentee:
Joe Dahlstrom
Karla Flores
Minutes
Meeting opened with an overview of agenda stating the focus of the meeting; understanding how
financial literacy strategies integrate with the 60X30TX goals, as well as establishing the structure of
the committee’s future meetings.
Agenda Item B
Introductions and Knowledge Inventory
Discussion: Introductions and Knowledge Inventory - Creation of Financial Literacy Resource List.
Members were provided an opportunity to brief one another on their background and knowledge of
financial literacy as well as suggest resources pertaining to financial literacy.
Action items
A list of financial literacy resources was created and will be distributed to committee.
Agenda Item C
Election of Committee Chair
Discussion: Election of Committee Chair, and Rescheduling of July 4th meeting.
 Self-nominated committee members Jared Pickens and Laura Ewing expressed their desire to
chair committee. Members were given an opportunity to self-nominate or nominate members
to chair committee. No other nominations were received. The suggestion was made that both
self-nominated members co-chair the committee.
 July 4th meeting date has been rescheduled to July 11th due to holiday.
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Action items
• Committee agreed and elected committee members Laura Ewing and Jared Pickens to co-chair
committee.
• Members will notify Charles Puls via email if unable to attend July 11th meeting.
Agenda Item D
60x30TX Presentation
Discussion: 60x30TX Presentation by Ginger Gossman, Senior Director of Innovation Policy and
Development (IPD)
An overview of 60x30TX plan was presented to the members by IPD. Discussion about the education
strategic plan continued and concluded with a request for data run providing information pertaining to
the 60% debt to wage ratio.
Action items
Committee requested the agency to provide a data run detailing the 60% debt to wage ratio broken
down by various demographics.
Agenda Item E
Current financial literacy statute
Discussion:
Committee members were provided a copy of statutory excerpts regarding the K-12 and higher
education financial literacy.
More research and outreach to institutions will need to be accomplished in order to understand how
institutions are implementing the higher education statute.
Action items
An overview of financial literacy in the K-12 sector will be provided at the next meeting.
Agenda Item F
Framing the committee’s work
Discussion:
 The FLAC must frame the scope of its work to guide the coming year’s efforts. To start a
discussion, initial topics were offered for consideration, such as ground rules (e.g. avoid any
assumptions that students already have a knowledgeable family resource; or financial literacy,
financial wellness, financial education, and debt management are not synonyms); a mission
statement (such as build financial literacy so that Texans from all socioeconomic backgrounds
can be confident they are making good decisions about attending and paying for college);
identifying a target audience (e.g. age range? influencers? degree pursuit (e.g. all degree, just
undergrad, etc.)); and describing a final product (e.g. knowing the options and understanding
their implications, how might we deliver the information).
 Standard means for communication:
• THECB’s GovDelivery – will be the main mechanism used for communications
• FLAC advisory committee webpage will provide meeting notices and agenda as well as
contain a library of webcast meetings, meeting notes and handouts.
 The committee’s core activity will be participation in monthly discussions, involving developing
opinions, and providing financial literacy resources, as well as identifying speakers. The
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committee will decide whether to work toward developing a final written report summarizing
recommendations to the agency.
 Ideals in which the committee may focus:
• Building financial literacy:
o What does a financially literate student look like?
o How does financial literacy impact the four goals of 60x30TX?
o Catalog ideals and best practices
o Identifying the best resources already available.
o How do we demonstrate the success of great ideas that already exist?
o How to influence financial Aid literacy?
Action items
Next meeting will implement small group discussions in which the committee will focus on defining key
elements of the work to be done by FLAC.
Agenda Item G
Developing future agenda topics
Discussion: Developing future agenda topics
Action items
Committee members will email Charles on next week regarding topics to be covered in future meetings
that will help improve committee members’ understanding of financial literacy and what the agency can
provide (research, best practices, etc.)
Next Meeting
12/6/2016 10:00 AM
THECB Board Room
Meeting adjourned 2:45 pm
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