This fall, at the mobile "Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park," students in Fairfax and Henrico Counties, Virg., assisted by their teachers and more than 200 trained Capital One volunteers, will experience through interactive stimulations the challenges of making financial decisions while staying within a specified budget.

In addition to supplying volunteers, a $1 million grant from Capital One will underwrite the outfitting of the mobile unit, the revision of the existing "JA Finance Park" curriculum, and operating costs.

JA Finance Park, a site-based program with eight U.S. locations, reached more than 12,500 students in the U.S. last year, but is not available in all areas. The mobile unit will enable this valuable curriculum to be taken to 1,000 Virginia students this fall teaching the basics of money management. The program is expected to expand to other previously under-served areas in 2007.

"'Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park' will spark the development of basic financial literacy skills. Capital One and JA Worldwide share the belief that the earlier students learn about money, the more successful they will be in the long run," said Richard A. Woods, senior vice president of Capital One. "We hope that this program can give kids an experience that will last them a lifetime."

According to the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy's biannual survey, of 5,775 high school seniors polled on their knowledge of financial literacy basics, the average score was 52.4 percent.