Classification: Four-year public 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:

• First-year success series.
• High-school outreach.

Program Description: The Ohio State University is steeped in a long and rich tradition of research and development in the areas of teaching and learning. Financial-aid staff who attended a train-the-trainer workshop discovered that USA Funds^® Life Skills^® was a good match for what OSU already was doing in its First-Year Success Series. Members of the financial-aid staff and a consumer-credit-staff person became "resident experts" on the USA Funds Life Skills modules, which they incorporated into their 50-minute financial-awareness sessions for the First-Year Success Series. As part of a one-credit course, freshmen have the opportunity to choose from 90-100 events grouped by eight different themes, including financial awareness. Last year the financial-aid staff logged 2,000 class hours for their financial-awareness topics, with 30 percent of OSU's freshman class of 6,000 participating in these sessions.

In addition, the director of financial aid incorporates information from USA Funds Life Skills Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students in her presentations to high-school students from the Columbus City School District to introduce students to the importance of managing finances as they prepare for college.

The director of financial aid is extremely pleased with student response to the financial-awareness topics, which incorporate USA Funds Life Skills. The journal of spending and the needs-versus-wants topics are extremely helpful to students. In addition, student-affairs research suggests that students' outstanding debt on credit cards has decreased.

Staffing Requirements: The financial-aid staff and a consumer-credit-staff person integrate all modules into their presentations for the First-Year Success Series. The financial-aid director includes information from Module 1 in high-school-outreach presentations.

Recommendations:The director of financial aid suggests the following steps:

• Find a partner, such as the OSU student-success program, and figure out how to market USA Funds Life Skills.
• The financial-aid staff benefited from participating in a faculty and teaching-assistant development session. The special session about how to teach freshmen helped the staff maximize their effectiveness in delivering USA Funds Life Skills.
• It is important to track when students are ready to hear financial information. At OSU, the third week of the quarter is the best time to launch the financial-awareness sessions.
• Focusing on one financial-awareness topic for freshmen is essential. OSU chose credit-card issues for two reasons. First, the residence-hall staff reported that consumer debt was the second-leading distraction for OSU students. Second, default research indicated that students who defaulted on their student loans had more consumer debt than student-loan debt.
• From a management perspective, delivering this program to freshmen has provided a wonderful opportunity for staff development.
• Participating in the delivery of the program has provided an opportunity for the entire campus to see the value that the financial-aid staff adds to the total OSU experience.

Regarding the use of USA Funds Life Skills as an outreach tool, the financial-aid director suggests that, because high-school students won’t come to you for financial guidance, it's best to begin with a parent organization and work through them to reach the students. A good way to build the audience is to provide financial-literacy programs as a community service.

Campus Contact:
Tally Hart, Director of Financial Aid
Phone: (614) 688-5712
E-mail: hart.149@osu.edu