"American Student Assistance" has a unique window onto students during some very important milestones in their formative financial years. This nonprofit interacts with students from the time they're choosing a college, to applying for financial aid and loans, to starting a first job, getting that first apartment, making that dreaded first student loan payment, and all the way through to successfully paying off their student debt. Not unexpectedly, observations have revealed a serious lack of financial acumen among student borrowers for quite some time. The traditional methods of financial literacy instruction, as practiced by the higher education community, are proving ineffective. Financial education, must be served by an approach grounded in "adult learning theory" that utilizes best practices associated with social networking and sustainable behavioral change. In the "Adult Learning Theory" model, users choose to engage at critical decision points in their own lives and direct the learning experience. They take their own path through the material at their own pace, however: (1) they must be provided with content they need in a format they want and (2) have availability where they are. By taking advantage of all the technological advances in communication today, adult learners may be engaged via their PCs, tablets, mobiles, etc., while still offering the personal human touch of a phone call or old-fashioned snail mail when appropriate. To best develop financial capabilities, there should be a looking to new educational models that incorporate highly interactive online educational environments and adult learning methodologies.