FAIRHAVEN, MA – May 26, 2004 - Visa USA and U.S. Representative Barney Frank, (D-4-MA), announced today that Fairhaven High School will receive a new computer lab to help students and teachers gain access to Practical Money Skills for Life – Visa’s free, online personal finance curriculum.

Rep. Frank attended the event that included a demonstration of Practical Money Skills for Life tools by Fairhaven High students. "This is a good day for education in Fairhaven and I'm grateful to VISA for its efforts,” said Frank.

“Visa is committed to improving the financial education of today’s youth and seeing these students become tomorrow’s success stories,” said Rhonda Bentz, director of public affairs, Visa USA.

actical Money Skills for Life (www.PracticalMoneySkills.com) is a comprehensive financial literacy program - available in English, Spanish and Chinese – that teaches young adults personal finance skills. The program reaches more than 100,000 schools and 37 million students in the United States.

The free educational resource provides teachers with lesson plans (kindergarten-college) mapped to their state education requirements, as well as teacher guides, overheads, instructional videos and CD-ROMs. For students, there are interactive games and calculators designed to teach responsibility and important concepts such as earning, saving, and budgeting money.

“In this fast-paced age, parents can use help in teaching their children about the basics of personal finance,” said Jean Cote, principal of Fairhaven High School. “That’s why we at Fairhaven have been eager to receive these new computers and access the resources on the Practical Money Skills Web site. Visa is providing a valuable resource today to our teachers and students, and we intend to make the most of it as we convert our students into financially-grounded young adults,” he added.

Visa USA donates computer equipment to schools and provides training for teachers on how to use the Practical Money Skills for Life curriculum. During 2004, Visa USA expects to donate computer labs to 10 high schools across the United States. To date, Visa has donated more than 40 computer labs nationwide.

About Practical Money Skills for Life
The Practical Money Skills for Life curriculum is teacher tested and teacher approved. At the 2001 National Education Association Expo, teachers graded and evaluated the program. Nearly 100 percent of teachers who reviewed the website approved of it; 98 percent said they would recommend the site to other educators; and 94 percent gave the program a "B" or better. The curriculum currently reaches 2.5 million teachers, 37 million students, and 100,000 schools. Additionally, this program won the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators 2002 Achievement in Consumer Education Award (ACE) for the best innovative program for the private sector and named an “Honorable Mention” by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy’s 2002 Soaring$tar Award.

About Visa
Visa is the world’s leading payment brand and largest consumer payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumer and merchant customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives. Nearly 21,000 financial institutions worldwide rely on Visa’s processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $2.5 trillion in annual transaction volume with virtually 100-percent reliability. Consumers in more than 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accepted at millions of locations worldwide. Within the United States, nearly 14,000 financial institutions issue 429 million Visa cards, accounting for more than $1.1 trillion in annual transaction volume. Visa offers a trusted, reliable and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources - anytime, anywhere, any way. For more information about Visa, please visit www.visa.com.

For more information or to schedule an interview with a Visa USA spokesperson, please contact Kristy Thomas (703) 683-5004 ext. 136, or kthomas@crc4pr.com.

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