Achieving the Dream and OneMain Holdings Announce Financial Literacy Grant

Achieving the Dream, Inc. (ATD), a community college reform organization, and OneMain Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:OMF) today announced a new $300,000 grant ($100,000 per year for three years) dedicated to enhancing community college students’ financial literacy. Recognizing the critical role students’ financial stability plays in their academic and career achievement, the grant will enable five community colleges in ATD’s nationwide network to participate in the Student Financial Empowerment Project, a program focused on enhancing community college students’ financial education, empowerment and future earnings.

“As the largest personal finance company in the U.S., OneMain recognizes the significant need for greater financial education, especially within the country’s college student population,” said Sheldon Caplis, Director of Community Relations for OneMain. “OneMain is dedicated to supporting the communities in which we live and operate, and we are honored to expand our partnership with ATD to provide students with the critical financial empowerment tools necessary to achieve long-term collegiate, career and personal success.”

“When colleges proactively engage students in building financial skills and knowledge, they’re developing capabilities essential to their students’ college success,” said Dr. Karen A. Stout, President and CEO of Achieving the Dream. “I’m very pleased to work with OneMain to help colleges grow their financial empowerment initiatives and seed this work throughout the ATD network.”

The five colleges selected through a rigorous application process to participate in the Student Financial Empowerment Project include:

• Bakersfield College (CA)
• St. Petersburg College (FL)
• Triton College (IL)
• Greenville Technical College (SC)
• Alamo Colleges (TX)

As part of the Student Financial Empowerment Project, over a two-year period, the colleges will use their grants to carry out activities such as providing financial coaching, integrating financial literacy into student success courses and delivering financial planning and debt management workshops.

At the end of the two-year time period, ATD will release a toolkit informed by the participating colleges’ experiences launching or expanding financial empowerment efforts to help additional colleges seeking to launch, intensify or expand their own efforts to build students’ financial skills and knowledge and confidence as they move through their careers. Each college also will develop and report on two measures of impact relevant to its specific activities.

Previously, OneMain partnered with ATD to launch two other grants: one focused on supporting individual students who are close to completing a certificate or degree program and need one-time financial support and an annual $25,000 prize for an ATD college that demonstrates outstanding practices in helping students improve their financial literacy skills. In total, OneMain has invested nearly $500,000 in helping ATD build community college students’ financial literacy skills.

About OneMain Holdings, Inc.

OneMain Holdings, Inc. is one of America’s leading personal finance companies offering responsible and transparent personal loan products, primarily to nonprime consumers. For over 100 years, the company has been providing personalized, best-in-class service at more than 1,800 branches in 43 states. The company’s iLoan® internet lending division also provides customers the opportunity to complete the loan process entirely online. The company has more than 11,000 team members who proudly support the communities in which they live and work. For additional information, please visit OneMainFinancial.com.

About Achieving the Dream

Achieving the Dream, Inc. is a national nonprofit that is dedicated to helping more community college students, particularly low-income students and students of color, stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree. Evidence-based, student-centered, and built on the values of equity and excellence, Achieving the Dream is closing achievement gaps and accelerating student success nationwide by: 1) guiding evidence-based institutional improvement, 2) leading policy change, 3) generating knowledge, and 4) engaging the public. Conceived as an initiative in 2004 by Lumina Foundation and seven founding partner organizations, today, Achieving the Dream is leading the most comprehensive non-governmental reform network for student success in higher education history. With over 200 institutions, more than 100 coaches and advisors, and 15 state policy teams - working throughout 35 states and the District of Columbia – the Achieving the Dream National Reform Network helps more than 4 million community college students have a better chance of realizing greater economic opportunity and achieving their dreams.

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