WCU College of Business, Financial Aid Office launch student financial wellness program
By Bill Studenc
A faculty member from the Western Carolina University College of Business has teamed up with staff in the WCU Office of Financial Aid to develop a pilot program to help young adults improve their financial literacy skills.
The peer-to-peer Catamount Financial Wellness Coach Program, which is getting underway this fall, is an effort to ease some of the financial stress that can affect the overall wellbeing and academic performance of college students.
Developed by David Smith, instructor of finance, in partnership with the Office of Financial Aid, the project is designed to help equip WCU undergraduates with the information and behaviors that will enable them to make more-informed decisions regarding money and related issues, Smith said.
“We are aiming to empower students with practical financial knowledge, skills and resources,” he said. “We are striving to reduce financial stress and enhance financial literacy by fostering peer-to-peer interactions. Student coaches will provide financial education, one-on-one coaching and group presentations.”
The Catamount Financial Wellness Coach Program is a financial wellness platform explicitly designed for college undergraduates. It is modeled after successful programs at other higher education institutions, including The Ohio State University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Stanford University and other members of the Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance, of which WCU is a member.
Numerous studies have found that Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012, who comprise today’s traditional undergraduate student population) have the lowest level of overall financial literacy compared to all other generations.
“The state of financial wellness among college students is often a mix of concern and potential,” said Trina Orr, WCU’s director of financial aid. “Many students enter college with limited financial knowledge, including how to manage student loan debt. A financial wellness program will be an ongoing effort to engage students to assist them in attaining the knowledge and skills to make good financial decisions.”
Smith, Orr and Office of Financial Aid staff members Spenser Sloan, Will Morgan and Hannah Vallandingham worked throughout 2023 to design and test the financial wellness program. Several students have trained to be coaches for the 2024 academic year through funding from the Federal Work Study Program.
Smith and his colleagues are seeking external funding to expand the project’s reach with additional programming and campus peer-to-peer coaching.
“I will be using this program to collect data testing the effectiveness of these interventions in enhancing student financial wellness to inform further program development and prioritization of resources,” he said.
Orr said that she believes the program will be a valuable asset to students who take advantage of the opportunity to improve their financial literacy.
“The Catamount Financial Wellness Coaching Program is an important project to assist students with personalized goal setting and behavioral support to reduce financial stress,” she said. “Through financial wellness education, students can improve their financial health by effectively managing their finances. It is our goal to incorporate financial wellness education in our campus community and engage students in understanding how to manage their finances, including student loan debt.”
According to a recent study by the TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America) Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, functional financial knowledge is substantially lower among Generation Z compared with Generation Y, Generation X and Baby Boomers in all areas examined.
The study specifically investigated knowledge in eight areas: earning (determinants of wages and take-home pay); consuming (budgets and managing spending); saving (factors that maximize accumulations); investing (investment types, risk and return); borrowing/managing debt (relationship between loan features and repayments); insuring (types of coverage and how insurance works); comprehending risk (understanding uncertain financial outcomes); and go-to information sources (recognizing appropriate sources and advice).
“It is evident again that greater financial literacy generally translates into greater financial wellbeing, and lower financial literacy is generally associated with lower financial wellbeing,” the study reported.
