OREANDA-NEWS. Nasdaq and EverFi presented BB&T with the Innovation in Financial Education Award, which recognizes significant efforts to improve the financial capability of young Americans. Twenty-five financial institutions were honored with this distinction at a ceremony hosted Tuesday, April 14, at Nasdaq's Marketsite headquarters in New York City.

Honorees were selected based on a set of criteria that included the scale and reach of their financial education initiatives, the duration of their commitment, and unique employee volunteering activities that supplement their programs.

"The institutions we're recognizing here today have led exceptional efforts to rethink how financial education is taught in our nation's schools," said EverFi Founder and CEO Tom Davidson. "Our global competitiveness is dependent on the next generation understanding how the economy works and how to achieve financial security in their lives. We are grateful to the organizations that are helping pave a brighter future for students today."

As young adults face increasingly complex financial decisions, BB&T is committed to providing students with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed. BB&T has partnered with EverFi to bring the financial education program to local students at no cost to schools or taxpayers through its BB&T Financial Foundations program and has reached more than 185,000 students since 2010. The web-based program uses the latest in new media technology – simulations, gaming and adaptive-pathing – to bring complex financial concepts to life for today's digital generation.

A FINRA-funded study released in February 2015 found students who received rigorous financial education in high school saw increased credit scores and decreased chance of credit delinquency as young adults, compared to their peers who did not receive financial education. Data collected from nearly 72,000 students who completed the BB&T Financial Foundations program in the 2013-2014 academic year revealed students' understanding of credit scores increased by an average 30 percent after interacting with the curriculum.

Administered by teachers in a classroom setting, the web-based course offers more than six hours of programming on a variety of financial topics including credit scores, insurance, credit cards, student loans, mortgages, taxes, stocks, savings, 401(k)'s and other critical concepts that map to national financial literacy standards. The platform uniquely tracks the progress and performance of every student.