University: Now or Later?
Learning Sequence
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Introduction with Gavin
In this activity, students enter Jordan’s world and begin exploring how financial decisions shape future opportunities. Introduce the video, then invite groups to describe his three pathways and share the questions they would like to investigate.
The aim is to develop curiosity about financial planning while recognising the person behind the figures. As students talk, notice who considers Jordan’s hopes alongside his budget, listens to other perspectives and feels confident contributing. Paired discussion can help quieter students find their voice.
This week, step into the shoes of Jordan Harris, a 19-year-old who has just finished high school and is preparing for university. Your mission is to help him find a way to pay for his education while making time to study and enjoy life.
Watch Gavin’s introduction and explore Jordan’s three pathways: taking a student loan, working part-time while studying, or delaying university to work full-time and save. Each offers opportunities, but each asks Jordan to give something up.
Together, you will investigate the costs, calculate what each pathway could mean and discuss the choices ahead. Think about his future debt, wellbeing and ambitions as you build a financial plan you can explain and support.
Mathematician of the Week - Georg Cantor
This activity invites students to see mathematics as a way of exploring ideas and making sense of everyday life. Read the resource together and give students time to reflect before sharing examples with a partner.
Encourage them to connect their thinking to Jordan’s financial choices. Observe curiosity, willingness to explain an idea and openness to another interpretation. Drawings and spoken responses offer different ways to participate, helping students build confidence as mathematical thinkers.
Mathematics begins with curiosity. Explore the Georg Cantor resource and think about what its words mean to you. What can numbers help us understand about the world and the choices we make?
With a partner, share an everyday example of mathematics helping someone solve a problem. Then bring your thinking back to Jordan. How could looking closely at his income, costs and savings help him see his options more clearly?
Share your ideas through a short explanation, a drawing or a few notes. Your partner may notice something you have not considered yet.
Weekly Keywords
Students build the vocabulary they need to discuss university finances with understanding. Model a familiar example, then guide partners as they explain the words in their own language and connect them to Jordan. This activity supports communication and independence alongside financial literacy.
Notice whether students use examples meaningfully, ask for clarification and help one another. Listen particularly for the difference between income, savings and borrowed money, returning to these ideas as the course develops.
Every financial journey comes with a new set of words. This week, explore income, expenses, budget, tuition fees, student loan, interest, repayment, savings, gap year and opportunity cost. Understanding them will help you explain Jordan’s choices with confidence.
Work with a partner to discover what each word means. Use the keyword card or your notebook to create a simple definition and a sentence or drawing connected to Jordan’s situation.
For opportunity cost, think about what Jordan gives up when he chooses one pathway over another. Share your examples, check unfamiliar meanings and help each other turn new vocabulary into useful knowledge.
The Situation - University Now or Later
Guide students as they turn the scenario into a clear picture of Jordan’s three options. Groups use the task card to gather financial information and explore how each choice could affect his daily life.
The purpose is to develop thoughtful enquiry before reaching a conclusion. Observe how students distinguish evidence from assumptions and consider study, relationships and wellbeing alongside costs. Encourage them to identify missing information and respect Jordan’s own goals, recognising that different pathways may suit different people.
Jordan has three possible routes to university, and your group is going to explore where each could lead. Read his task card and gather the information under three headings: student loan, part-time work while studying, and full-time work before university.
Build a picture of each pathway by recording its costs, income, benefits and challenges. Imagine the everyday experience too. How much time would Jordan have for lectures, assignments, work, friendships and rest?
Before choosing a route, consider what you still need to know. Record your questions and separate the facts from your assumptions. Your investigation will help Jordan understand both the financial commitment and the life that comes with it.
Make Up Your Mind - Rubric and Discussion
In this activity helps students combine financial evidence with an understanding of Jordan’s everyday needs. Model how to rank one row, using 1, 2 and 3 once each, with 3 representing the best fit. Students then complete the rubric, total each column out of 15 and discuss their recommendations.
Observe how students connect their calculations to their rankings, consider Jordan’s wellbeing and listen to different opinions. Encourage independent judgement and willingness to reconsider an idea. The highest total should support discussion, while students’ reasons explain why their choice could suit Jordan.
You have explored the numbers. Now use the rubric to compare Jordan’s three options: a student loan, working while studying, or saving before university.
For each question, give 3 to the best fit, 2 to the next best and 1 to the least suitable. Use each number once in every row. Consider short-term costs, long-term costs, social life, life skills and overall quality of life.
Add each column to find its total out of 15. Discuss your results with a partner, then record your choice and main reason. Use your calculations to support your thinking, remembering that Jordan’s wellbeing matters too.
Finding The Facts
This activity helps students apply financial mathematics to Jordan’s university choices. Guide them through the easy, medium and hard questions, encouraging them to identify the figures and choose a method before calculating. Explain that some questions introduce alternative situations rather than repeat the original scenario.
Observe how students explain their reasoning, check units and time periods, and approach unfamiliar problems. Encourage partners to share methods while allowing each student to work at their own pace. Notice confidence, persistence and willingness to seek help. Discuss how their answers connect to Jordan’s study time, wellbeing and financial future.
Now it is time to help Jordan explore what university could mean for his finances. Work through the 12 questions, moving from easy calculations to more challenging problems about earnings, savings, tuition fees and compound interest.
Each question provides the figures you need. Some introduce a new plan for Jordan, so read carefully. Show your working in your notebook and record your answers on the card. Use a calculator and the compound-interest explainer when helpful.
Compare your methods with a partner. As you calculate, think about what the results could mean for Jordan’s choices, his workload and his future.
Mathematics in Action- Compound Interest
In this activity helps students combine financial evidence with an understanding of Jordan’s everyday needs. Model how to rank one row, using 1, 2 and 3 once each, with 3 representing the best fit. Students then complete the rubric, total each column out of 15 and discuss their recommendations.
Observe how students connect their calculations to their rankings, consider Jordan’s wellbeing and listen to different opinions. Encourage independent judgement and willingness to reconsider an idea. The highest total should support discussion, while students’ reasons explain why their choice could suit Jordan.
You have explored the numbers. Now use the rubric to compare Jordan’s three options: a student loan, working while studying, or saving before university.
For each question, give 3 to the best fit, 2 to the next best and 1 to the least suitable. Use each number once in every row. Consider short-term costs, long-term costs, social life, life skills and overall quality of life.
Add each column to find its total out of 15. Discuss your results with a partner, then record your choice and main reason. Use your calculations to support your thinking, remembering that Jordan’s wellbeing matters too.
Real World Learning - Pitch Your Decision
Students turn their research and rubric into a persuasive 90-second pitch. Help them organise a clear recommendation, supporting evidence and a strong closing statement. Encourage them to connect financial calculations with Jordan’s everyday life and future opportunities, while acknowledging a challenge.
Provide rehearsal time and allow cue cards to support confidence. Observe how students select evidence, consider wellbeing and communicate their own judgement. Establish a supportive audience and value thoughtful reasoning alongside presentation skills. Afterwards, invite students to reflect on whether another pitch changed their thinking and why.
You have 90 seconds to convince the class that your chosen pathway is the best fit for Jordan. Think Shark Tank or Dragons’ Den: a clear idea, strong evidence and a confident pitch!
Start with your decision, then explain how it could support Jordan’s finances, wellbeing, lifestyle and future. Include at least one calculation from your work. Recognise one challenge and suggest how he could manage it.
Finish with a memorable reason to support your choice. Practise with a timer, using brief notes to help you. When others present, listen closely. Their ideas might help you see Jordan’s options differently.
Guided Writing - Pitch Your First Job
This activity connects financial learning with initiative, responsibility and persuasive writing. Help students identify a genuine need, choose an appropriate task and propose a fair price. Guide them to explain their offer clearly, calculate four weeks’ earnings and consider how the commitment fits around school and rest.
Observe how students recognise another person’s needs, justify their price and express confidence in their abilities. Encourage realistic promises and respectful negotiation. Students may write to an imagined family member if preferred; success lies in the thoughtful proposal, not whether a family agrees to pay.
Your first job could begin with an idea! Think of a regular task that would help your parents or another family member. You might wash their car, water plants, help with gardening or assist with shopping. Choose something useful, safe and enjoyable.
Write a persuasive letter explaining the job you would like to do, how often you will do it and why it would help them. Name your price per task or per hour and explain why it is fair. Calculate how much you could earn over four weeks.
Show why they can trust you to do the job well. Finish by politely asking them to consider your proposal, perhaps suggesting a trial. Use the example and template to organise your letter. You are creating an opportunity, even if the job does not exist yet!
Weekly Inspiration - How Big Can Numbers Get?
This activity invites students to explore scale, powers and the limits of their imagination. Introduce familiar powers of ten before exploring the tower of powers. Explain that there is no largest number and that students do not need to calculate the enormous example.
Observe curiosity, questioning and willingness to revise an initial idea. Encourage students to explain patterns through words or drawings and listen to different interpretations. Connect the discussion to repeated multiplication in compound interest, while distinguishing Jordan’s annual 5% growth from the much faster growth shown here.
This week, explore a number so enormous it is difficult to imagine: 10^(10^(10^34)). This is a tower of powers, calculated from the top down. It is incredibly large, but there is no biggest number: you can always add one!
Watch the video and share what surprises you. Begin with something smaller: write out 10¹, 10² and 10³. What pattern do you notice? How does using powers help us describe numbers without writing every digit?
Connect your discovery to Jordan’s loan. His debt grows much more slowly, but both activities show how repeated multiplication can lead to surprising results. What have you learnt about looking beyond your first guess?
Your Quiz and Certificate
Invite pupils to complete the quiz independently, with support to access or understand the questions where needed.
Encourage pupils to review their understanding before retrying. Observe persistence, confidence, self-reflection and willingness to seek help. Treat mistakes as opportunities to learn.
Celebrate progress alongside certificates. Ask: “What do you understand better now?” and “How could you use this learning?”
Click the link and complete the online quiz. Read each question carefully and use what you have learnt throughout the lesson.
Score 80% or more to receive your certificate. You can try as many times as you like. If you do not reach 80% yet, revisit the activities and try again.
Celebrate your progress and think about one idea you could use in real life.
