New Feature Connects Students’ Dream Careers to Schools and Scholarships The Finance Authority of Maine (FAME), in partnership with Carnegie Dartlet, recently launched a new college and scholarship search feature within the Claim Your Future (CYF)® website (claimyourfuture.com). CYF is a financial literacy game used worldwide that teaches students about careers, higher education, and money management. Carnegie Dartlet and FAME partnered to take the program one step further—from an interactive financial lesson to a resource that connects students with the right higher education path and guides them to their career of choice. FAME has incorporated CollegeXpress, Carnegie Dartlet’s student portal for higher education, into CYF. CollegeXpress is a popular higher education and scholarship search website focused on helping its users find the right college fit. It provides a free personalized experience and allows students to seek colleges, scholarships, and information that help link future career goals and interests to their higher education path. Together, CYF and CollegeXpress create a powerful tool that helps students understand careers, academic majors, and college options while considering the financial consequences of their choices. “Claim Your Future has always been a popular teaching tool and students gain memorable lessons and ‘a-ha’ moments from the experience,” said Mary Dyer, Financial Education Officer at FAME. “Now with CollegeXpress, students can connect to colleges and scholarships that actually help them reach their higher education goals. It will help students to not only claim their future, but to plan for their future.” Within a few days of launching the CollegeXpress feature, dozens of high school students were on their way to connecting with colleges and scholarships based on their career of choice. “The partnership between CollegeXpress and Claim Your Future is a perfect fit,” said Joe Moore, Chairman & CEO of Carnegie Dartlet. “We tapped into research that says that Generation Z students are incredibly outcome driven and want to graduate from college with a promising career. By combining the CYF activity with CollegeXpress’s vast array of college and scholarship search tools, we can help students on a more direct path to accomplishing their goals.” FAME developed the CYF program to use in Maine’s financial education efforts and has helped tens of thousands of Maine students from grades five and up become more financially savvy. The online version of the interactive game has been played all over the world and is popular with teachers in many states. Due to overwhelming requests, FAME has adapted the program so other organizations can co-brand and customize the program for their own constituents. About Claim Your Future: Claim Your Future (CYF) is a financial literacy program that helps increase knowledge about higher education, careers, and money management. They can connect to CollegeXpress at the end of the lesson. Teachers and students all around the country have been raving about the interactive educational program and over 150,000 people from around the world have played online or in the class room. The CYF program is proven to expand knowledge and engage students from fifth grade through high school and even into adulthood. Teachers have used the program as a one-time classroom activity or as part of a larger unit on careers, higher education, and money management. The program is offered in a hands-on interactive game kit or online. To watch students engage in, learn more about, and/or try the lesson, go to ClaimYourFuture.com. About FAME: FAME is a quasi-state agency that expands business and education opportunities for Maine people. A large part of FAME’s mission is to help families afford higher education financial education. FAME is often called upon in state and nationally for their extensive experience with financial education around higher education. About Carnegie Dartlet: Carnegie Dartlet is a leader and innovator in higher education marketing, offering groundbreaking services in the areas of research, strategy, creative, digital, lead generation, and team building to create clarity and connection inside and outside of institutions. Since 1985, Carnegie Dartlet has helped students find the right colleges—and colleges find the right students—through their leading college search engine, CollegeXpress, a free college and scholarship resource for students, their families, and guidance counselors. With college and scholarship search tools, 800 unique college-related lists, and a summer program search, CollegeXpress has all the resources students and families need to find a college, help pay for it, and much more.