1 of 5
Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau
To nd this and other activities, go to:
consumernance.gov/teach-activities
Summer 2022
BUILDING BLOCKS TEACHER GUIDE
Understanding how much student debt
you can afford
Students calculate how much they can afford in monthly student loan payments
based on what their salary might be after graduating from college or another
post-secondary institution.
KEY INFORMATION
Building block:
Financial knowledge and
decision-making skills
Grade level: High school (11–12)
Age range: 16–19
Topic: Spend (Paying for college),
Borrow (Getting loans)
School subject: CTE (Career and technical
education), Math, Social studies or history
Teaching strategy: Direct instruction,
Personalized instruction
Bloom’s Taxonomy level: Understand,
Analyze
Activity duration: 45–60 minutes
National Standards for Personal
Financial Education, 2021
Earning income: 8-3, 8-4, 12-3, 12-4, 12-5
Managing credit: 8-6, 12-4, 12-5
These standards are cumulative, and topics are not
repeated in each grade level. This activity may include
information students need to understand before
exploring this topic in more detail.
Learning goals
Big idea
Making sure your student loan debt will be
affordable once you graduate can help prepare
you to manage your money in the future.
Essential questions
§ How much student loan debt can I handle?
§ How does the career I choose affect the
amount of debt I can successfully manage?
Objectives
§ Understand that your career choices may
inuence your ability to repay student loans
§ Determine how much student loan debt
you could afford based on a career’s
starting salary
NOTE
Please remember to consider your students’
accommodations and special needs to ensure
that all students are able to participate in a
meaningful way.