Classification: Four-year public college or university; Historically Black 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 5: Now That You Are About to Graduate: Taking Control of Your Life.

How Used:

• Freshman seminar.
• Exit counseling.

Program Description: Grambling State University uses USA Funds^® Life Skills^® as a tool for advancing its financial-literacy and debt-management efforts.

Introduced initially on a pilot basis in six sections of the freshman seminar, the program now is offered to all sections of the seminar. Members of the financial-aid staff highlight information from Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students, Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding Resources and Financial Obligations and Module 3: Work Hard but Smart: How to Be Successful in School and Graduate on Time in these 45-minute presentations to students during the freshman seminars. Students receive copies of the student skills book for each of the three modules. To motivate students to read the modules, instructors are encouraged to include follow-up questions in subsequent sessions.

Module 5: Now That You Are About to Graduate: Taking Control of Your Life is introduced as a resource for the exit-counseling sessions. Students receive a copy of the student skills book as a resource that they can continue to consult even after they graduate. The financial-aid staff is responsible for these sessions that are offered in the fall, spring and summer.

Staffing Requirements: Members of the financial-aid staff are responsible for delivering Modules 1, 2 and 3 to students in the freshman seminars and Module 5 to graduating or withdrawing students.

Recommendations: The financial-aid staff at Grambling State University suggests that preparation is the key to getting buy-in from instructors. They advocate considerable training and practice with the USA Funds Life Skills materials before asking others to consider the merits of implementing the program.

Campus Contacts:
Anne Rugege, Assistant Director of Financial Aid
Phone: (318) 274-6415
E-mail: rugegea@gram.edu

Tafferney Lee, Coordinator of Default Prevention
E-mail: leet@gram.edu

Barbara Payne, Default Prevention Specialist
E-mail:payneb@gram.edu