Finance awareness remains a topic approached with little enthusiasm from the millennial generation. We understand it’s a significant asset, especially after college, but the topic seems to be getting less attention than it needs. The underlying problem is the little attention that’s placed on financial literacy at college institutions.
Consequently, students do not know how to properly manage their finances in the real world – a problem that can grow into undesirable future life stresses. According to research done at The Ohio State University, seven out of ten college students in the United States worry about their current and future financial situations.
Typical worries range from the inability to pay back one’s loans, credit card debt, overspending, and financial management.
The interview
At The Ohio State University, there are specific services available to assist students with their personal finances, but many remain unaware of these programs. One financial literacy and wellness program, Scarlet and Gray Financial, has student coaches who meet with clients.
One student coach, sophomore Elizabeth Markley, had much to say on her role as a financial wellness coach: “We do hour long one-on-one appointments in the student wellness center talking about all of these issues personalized for the client,” said Markley, a Finance major.
“I believe that finances are so crucial to people’s lives and can be a huge stressor for people. The more people know about finances and feel comfortable with their personal economics, the better off they will be in life and won’t have to stress as much over money.”
“Our clients range from undergraduates—typically juniors and seniors to graduate students,” Markley said. “Many of them come in to understand how to budget, invest after graduation. Some students come in to talk about their credit card debt or loan repayment plans. We have had people in the past come in to figure out how to finance their wedding. We hear just about everything and we will answer just about anything short of doing people’s taxes and telling people what companies to invest in. We rely heavily on our alumni to come in to do professional development. Most of our alumni work within the client services industries in finance doing wealth management, consulting or as financial planners. Our alumni come in to teach us how professionals in the industry are doing things.”
“A lot of people are embarrassed to talk about their finances or scared to ask questions about things they don’t understand, so for us I have enjoyed learning how to ask questions so that people don’t get scared to ask the simple questions about finance without feeling dumb or embarrassed.”
To become a part of this financial wellness program, Elizabeth explained, “We recruit for our coaches at the end of the fall semester each year. Accepted students will go through a four-month leadership development program where they will learn the content covered in appointments and will begin coaching the following spring. We are not paid, but rather student volunteers, so we choose people to join our organization that are interested in learning about personal finance and having client relation skills as we see many different types of people through the wellness center. Most of the people in our organization of 65 members are finance majors although we do have a couple of education and some others that are different specializations within business.”
Going forward
Financial literacy resources have the ability to de-stress college students’ financial situations and worries. Educating and aiding students now can benefit them for future financial responsibilities that many might ignore until they find themselves in financial trouble. And assistance from credible, trustworthy people, such as the well-trained coaches of Scarlet and Gray Finance can impact the financial future wellness of this uprising generation.
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