Teens to Test Financial Savvy in 'Money Bee'

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo School of Management and M&T Bank will host more than 100 students from 20 public, private and charter schools in the fifth annual "MoneySKILL Mania," a financial literacy competition for high school students.

The event will run from 8:45 a.m. to noon on March 14 in UB's Center for the Arts Screening Room on the North Campus.

Celebrity host Dennis George will lead the students through five rounds of finance-related questions, including a "current events" round sponsored by The Buffalo News.

Participants will be quizzed on a range of topics, including mortgages, stock, bonds, bankruptcy, interest and income, entering their answers electronically using UB's "clicker" technology. Scores will be tallied automatically.

The highest-scoring student will receive an Apple iPad 2, and each member of the winning team will receive a $250 college savings fund. Teacher coaches of the winners will receive prizes as well.

The goal of the event is to increase awareness of MoneySKILL, a free, interactive Internet curriculum designed to educate students to make informed financial decisions on a variety of personal finance issues, including income, money management, credit, saving and investing.

The UB School of Management and M&T Bank partnered in 2006 to support increased financial literacy training for high school students in Western New York and have helped introduce MoneySKILL to more than 7,000 students in the last five years.

MoneySKILL was developed by Lewis Mandell, professor emeritus of finance and managerial economics in the UB School of Management, in collaboration with the American Financial Services Association Education Foundation.

Tests of the financial knowledge of teenagers consistently show poor performance. For example, in the latest Jump$tart Survey of Financial Literacy among High School Students, a survey of 12th graders, participants answered an average of only 48.3 percent of the test questions correctly. Over the past 10 years, scores have ranged from a high of 57 percent to the 2008 low of 48.3 percent -- all within the range of a failing grade.

School representatives interested in participating in MoneySKILL Mania can contact Hailley MacDonald at 716-645-2407 or hailleym@buffalo.edu by Feb. 10.

M&T Bank Corporation, founded in 1856, is one of the top 20 commercial bank holding companies in the nation, with $78 billion in assets and more than 770 branch offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C. More information is available at http://www.mtb.com.

The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report and The Wall Street Journal for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit http://mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.