WASHINGTON, D.C. -

The American Financial Services Association is continuing to work toward educating the youngest consumers so they have a better baseline knowledge of budgeting and more before the potential buyers arrive at the dealership F&I office.

Since its launch 10 years ago, the AFSA Education Foundation’s personal finance course MoneySKILL has steadily increased its reach among high school, college and middle school students. Enrollments recently surpassed the 500,000 mark.

The free online course is used by teachers, parents and community leaders from every state, the District of Columbia and several foreign countries to teach personal finance concepts to young adults. Officials highlighted more than 74,000 students have been enrolled in the course in the 2013-2014 school year alone.

MoneySKILL teaches money management fundamentals in the areas of income, expenses, credit, saving and investing, and insurance. The high school/college course content is delivered online through a series of 36 modules with written text reinforced by audio narration; the middle school version consists of 12 modules.

Each year, the course content and technology are upgraded to reflect changes in federal laws, new statistics and relevant events in financial services.

Lewis Mandell, professor emeritus and former business dean at SUNY Buffalo, authored the course and conducts the annual reviews and revisions.