When used responsibly, student loans can be the key to unlocking a college education and a brighter future. To make sure you are making financially smart decisions, you have to do your research and understand the types and conditions of the different student loan options available to you. In the activity COMPARE: Understanding the Types of Student Loans, students learn the key differences between federal and private student loan options. 

This activity has been updated recently (September 2020) to include teaching & learning strategies for both in-person instruction and remote learning. Below are some highlights and suggestions for each part of the activity. 

PART I: FEDERAL VS PRIVATE LOANS

• Use the Nearpod polling feature to review specific characteristics of both federal and private student loans. The polling feature will work best if teaching in an in-person or synchronous environment. If you are teaching asynchronously, you may want to change this to a quiz activity in Nearpod. 
• Here is a ready-made Nearpod slide deck for you to use or customize!
• Have students use a whiteboard to write whether each characteristic is true of a federal or private loan. As the activity suggests, you could also have students hold up one finger or two fingers, raise their left or right hand, or stand up/sit down. Any of these ideas can be incorporated in the face-to-face or remote classroom.

PART II: TYPES OF FEDERAL LOANS

• Use the Nearpod draw-it activity to have students complete the chart comparing subsidized, unsubsidized, and PLUS federal student loans. 
• Here is the ready-made Nearpod slide deck for you to use or customize!
• Have students complete the chart, drawing activities, and reflection questions on their worksheet or on a whiteboard. 

PART III: TYPES OF PRIVATE LOANS

• Use the Nearpod open-ended question feature to have students access the article and answer specific questions about private student loan options. 
• Here is the ready-made Nearpod slide deck for you to use or customize! 
• If teaching synchronously, consider placing students in breakout rooms to discuss and answer the question together.

Part IV: REFLECTION

• Use the Nearpod collaborate board to have students answer the reflection questions. This allows students to view and “heart” each other’s responses. If you would rather students not see each other’s reflections or work, you can change these to open-ended questions. 
• Here is the ready-made Nearpod slide deck for you to use or customize! 
• To wrap up the activity, you could have students answer the reflection questions individually, in small groups, on their worksheet, in the chat, or via your LMS system. 

Looking for more suggestions on how to facilitate an NGPF activity in a virtual environment? View NGPF’s Virtual Adaptation Series!

About the Author

Amanda Volz

Amanda joins the NGPF Team with over 20 years of experience teaching personal finance. During that time, she led her students to hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships, won multiple awards, and most importantly, impacted the financial lives of thousands of high school students. Amanda prides herself on being an educational leader and is constantly looking for innovative ways to make the classroom relevant, rigorous, and fun. She is a passionate advocate for financial education and has been a long-time member of the NGPF community. Fun fact - Amanda was NGPF’s first teacher account! When Amanda isn’t working, she enjoys cooking, gardening, and traveling with her husband and two children.