Madison College is partnering with Summit Credit Union and UW Credit Union to provide a series of five financial education workshops this spring at the Truax Campus. These workshops are free to attend and include pizza, raffle prizes, give-aways, and other incentives to improve students’ financial health.

Madison College Financial Aid Analyst Brittanie Dempsey says, “The overall goal of this program is to make sure students are financially healthy so they can focus on schooling. If you’re worried about paying bills, you’re not likely to be a successful student.”

Long-term effects of poor financial habits in college could affect students’ credit scores and eventually negatively impact their ability to buy a home or get a car loan. For this reason, Dempsey says that Madison College has made providing free financial education to its students a priority.

“We see students don’t manage money well and aren’t able to pay bills regularly,” says Dempsey. “They take out loans to cover living expenses, increasing debt that could be hard to pay back in the future.”

To encourage healthy financial habits, the first workshop in this series, held on Feb. 8, focused on “Budgeting While in College.” Eight students participated in an engaging discussion about whether or not they had budgets, what they included in their budgets, and how they could improve their budgeting tools. The presenter set the workshop up so students could respond to questions via text for anonymity. “I could tell they were getting something out of it,” says Dempsey.

All future workshops will be held at 3 p.m. in Truax Room B2204 on the following dates:

• Wednesday, Feb. 22 – Basic Credit
• Wednesday, March 8 – Debt Payoff
• Wednesday, April 5 – Banking 101 – Intro to Financial Accounts and Services
• Wednesday, April 19 – Mindful Spending – Date Night on a Budget

Advanced registration for the workshops is encouraged, but students can walk in.
If students are unable to attend the workshops, Dempsey encourages them to sign up for SALT, which is a free online financial education resource available to students. The site features information about a wide range of financial topics including budgeting, ways to pay for school, banking, insurance, taxes, payment plans for student debt, and job search tools.

The website provides resources in many different forms for people who learn differently. It offers articles, videos, comics, infographics, and full courses that take about 25 minutes to complete. Students can find links and more information at madisoncollege.edu/paying-for-college.

SALT also provides access to loan counselors through the American Student Assistance non-profit and the SALT account remains active for life, even after students graduate.

With its commitment to financial education for students, the Madison College Financial Aid Office will be sending out a survey to ask students about their financial resource needs. In the future, Madison College hopes to be able to offer students in-person loan counseling.