University Business - July/August 2011 - (Page 29)

MONEY M AT T E R S Best practices in campus eﬀorts to educate students Financial Literacy in the New Regulatory “Normal” By Mary Piccioli TUDENT FINANCIAL LITERacy has been a growing concern, not only because of the connection to persistence and retention, but also in terms of success beyond college years that includes repayment of student loans and general ﬁscal responsibility in adulthood. We’ve likely all heard the stories of the $82 pizza, its price inﬂated by a check that bounced and resulting fees from the bank and pizza parlor. It shows the need for students to understand the consequences of spending money they don’t have. Best practices in ﬁnancial literacy education can be found on many college campuses. ere are likely some very good ideas percolating on your own campus. Yet, despite the increased focus on ﬁnancial literacy, some institutions are backing away from recommending student loan lenders because of the regulatory burden imposed on institutions that maintain preferred lender lists. Here’s a look at decision making related to educating students on personal ﬁnances, speciﬁcally lending. LITERACY EDUCATION IN PRACTICE At Alvernia University (Pa.), Jason Deitz, associate director of student ﬁnancial planning, developed a one-credit online class likely to be rolled out in the fall semester. Also, the required First Year seminar class now includes ﬁnancial literacy information, with content from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Association. Plans are in the works to expand literacy education to upperclassmen. It’s a group other institutions are targeting with personal ﬁnance information. St. Bonaventure University (N.Y.) S Students seemed to have little awareness about their loan indebtedness. embarked on an initiative for graduating seniors a few years ago that taps into the expertise and wit of a highly regarded ﬁnance faculty member. Professor Giles Boothaway has met only with seniors who have borrowed federal loans as part of the loan exit counseling process. Now oﬃcials have extended that invitation to all graduating seniors. “Word has circulated about Professor Boothaway’s presentation, and students like and respect him, so we had a strong turnout this year,” reports Gail Marasco, assistant director of ﬁnancial aid. Boothaway covers topics such as making and sticking to a budget, the need to establish a good credit record, and the importance of saving. He drives home the point about savings by giving students a by-the-numbers look at how they can save $1 million by retirement. He even shows students a section of his own FICO report. Now students in SBU’s Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) can take a summer leadership workshop with a former banker who warns them of the risks of getting in too deep with credit cards. SBU invites HEOP freshmen from ﬁve area colleges to the workshop. Students do the bulk of personal ﬁnance teaching at Luther College (Iowa), where the ﬁnancial aid oﬃce has hired two literacy peer mentors who work about six hours a week. (State grant funds initially supported their wages.) Carolyn Schwendeman, a ﬁnancial aid counselor and the peer mentors’ supervisor, says that while students signed promissory notes and completed entrance interviews for student loans, surveys showed little awareness about their loan indebtedness. rough a newsletter, a student newspaper column, a FAFSA “countdown to deadline” expo, and other activities, the peer mentors provide education and counsel about loans and other personal ﬁnance topics. One event featured mentors arriving in a public setting, one dressed in an outﬁt purchased at the local secondhand store, the other wearing more expensive duds from an upscale store. Students had to guess which outﬁt was purchased where. e mentors have also distributed fortune cookies with ﬁnancial tips in place of the fortune and held contests for students to guess the total amount of loose change in a large jar—demonstrating how much one can squirrel away by saving spare change. At Albion College (Mich.), ﬁnancial literacy education is being integrated into its 2011-12 “Year of Wellness.” As Mary Piccioli is an enrollment management consultant at Scannell & Kurz. She can be reached via www.scannellkurz.com. July/August 2011 | 29 universitybusiness.com http://www.scannellkurz.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - July/August 2011

University Business - July/August 2011
Contents
Editor's Note
Ad Index
College Index
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Financial Success
Money Matters
Community Colleges
Funding Capture
Models of Efficiency
Thwarting ID Thieves
Embezzlement Epidemic
What's New
End Note

University Business - July/August 2011