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: Freshman-experience course.
Program Description: PSU takes a proactive approach to
student retention by requiring all freshmen to enroll in a freshman-experience
course. Thirty-nine sections of the two-credit course are offered in the fall.
After reviewing USA Funds® Life Skills®, the student
financial-assistance staff recognized a match between the content of the program
modules and topics included in the freshman-experience course, particularly
budgeting and consumerism.
After discussions with the course instructors and a formal presentation of
the modules by a USA Funds representative, the course instructors elected to use
USA Funds Life Skills to help them meet their objectives of providing students
with the help they needed to manage their money more wisely. Instructors are
able to tailor the pre-designed financial information from the modules to fit
their specific requirements for the course.
Because consumerism and budgeting are required topics in the
freshman-experience course, Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart
Spending for Students is an ideal resource. Many instructors use the
budgeting game to encourage students to think more carefully about their
purchases. Students develop individual budgets in class or as a homework
assignment to share and debate with their peers, thus helping them to
internalize appropriate money management.
The financial information in Module 2: Seek out Financial Aid: Funding
Resources and Financial Obligations is personalized for PSU students, with
instructors inviting students to prepare PSU-specific questions for the
presenters. This module generally is presented in October after students have
gone through entrance counseling and the first financial-aid-disbursement cycle.
The information provided in Module 3: Work Hard but Smart: How to Be
Successful in School and Graduate on Time is especially helpful for those
sections of the freshman-experience course in which large numbers of undeclared
majors enrolled. The director of career services also uses this module in a
career-exploration class.
Module 4: Take Control of Your Future: Finishing School and Repaying Your
Loans and Module 5: Now That You Are About to Graduate: Taking Control
of Your Life are used to a lesser extent in the freshman-experience
courses. Instructors for the freshman course often use these modules with
major-specific senior seminars.
Staffing Requirements: Instructors for the
freshman-experience courses implement Module 1. Student financial-assistance
staff delivers Module 2. Career-services staff assists with Module 3. Modules 4
and 5 are presented by freshman-experience course instructors/senior-seminar
instructors.
Recommendations: PSU offers the following recommendations
for those considering USA Funds Life Skills for a freshman-experience
course:
- Successful implementation is predicated on careful planning.
- The student-financial-assistance staff should take the lead in helping
course instructors build a bridge between the module content and course
content.
- Invite a USA Funds staff member to present the content of each module in
greater depth to the course instructors.
- Instructors should be encouraged to find their individual comfort level
with the modules.
- Identify ways to validate support and successes.
Campus Contact:
Julie Blanken, Associate Director of
Student Financial Assistance
Phone: (620) 235-4237
E-mail: jblanken@pittstate.edu