Classification: Four-year private college or university.

Modules Used:

• Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students.
• Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial Obligations.
• Module 3: Work Hard but Smart: How to Be Successful in School and Graduate on Time.
• Module 4. Take Control of Your Future: Finishing School and Repaying Your Loans.
• Module 5: Now That You Are About to Graduate: Taking Control of Your Life.

How Used: Freshman seminar.

Program Description: The goal of the financial-literacy initiative at Friends University is to give students information to help them make educated decisions. To that end, the director of financial aid has championed USA Funds^® Life Skills^® since learning about the program at a national conference in 2002.

To generate interest on campus, she introduced the program to the committee that oversees the freshman-seminar program and to the staff in the center for student success. These colleagues decided to integrate it into the freshman seminar, which meets once a week for eight weeks. Team leaders, which include faculty, senior students and members of the president's cabinet, are responsible for a group of 20 students. Training was provided by a USA Funds representative to familiarize the faculty with the content and delivery options for each of the modules.

The director of financial aid delivers Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students. Students enjoy having a resource book to take with them for future reference. They also appreciate the budgeting game because it helps them understand personal expenses in ways they had not previously considered.

The financial-aid staff uses Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial Obligations as part of the freshman-orientation program that runs from April through mid-August. Students appreciate the definitions provided in this module, and the resource booklet that they can use as a reference.

Faculty members integrate Module 3: Work Hard but Smart: How to Be Successful in School and Graduate on Time into existing activities, such as helping students develop academic plans.

The financial-aid office provides a copy of the student skills book for Module 4: Take Control of Your Future: Finishing School and Repaying Your Loans to seniors.

Module 5: Now That You Are About to Graduate: Taking Control of Your Life is made available to students in the center for student success, which houses all academic-support services, including career services and tutoring.

Staffing Requirements: The director of financial aid delivers Modules 1 and 2; faculty have responsibility for Module 3; staffing is not required for the delivery of Modules 4 and 5.

Recommendations: The director of financial aid suggests that demonstrating to colleagues the quality of the program is essential to gaining campus acceptance of USA Funds Life Skills. Accordingly, she provided the freshman-seminar faculty and the staff in the center for student success with copies of the USA Funds Life Skills booklets and asked if these were resources that the university wanted to make available to its students. Faculty continue to evaluate the program annually.

Campus Contact:
Myra Pfannenstiel, Director of Student Financial Aid
Phone: (316) 295-5590
E-mail: pfannem@friends.edu