Classification: Four-year private college or university.

Modules Used:

• Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students.

How Used:

• Student orientation, advising and registration programs.
• Freshman-orientation course.

Program Description: The director of enrollment services encouraged her colleagues in academic affairs to embrace USA Funds^® Life Skills^® as a financial-literacy initiative. She suggested making Module 1: Get a Grip on Your Finances: Smart Spending for Students part of the curriculum for Orientation 100 because budgeting and money management supported one of the major goals of the one-unit course — to help students assimilate a lifestyle that would help to make them successful. The associate dean of academic affairs agreed that these topics were important and subsequently worked with the faculty to get USA Funds Life Skills incorporated into the curriculum. The director of enrollment services was asked to deliver the module in each of the seven sections of the course. The instructors set the stage for the presentation by assigning the student skills book as homework, which allows the director of enrollment services to spend more time on specific topics and student questions. Instructors allocate 75 minutes for this module.

After the first year, the associate dean of academic affairs, with the assistance of the director, decided to introduce students to budgeting and money management during the two-day Student Advising, Orientation and Registration sessions. Because the director of enrollment services wanted to spend even more time with Module 1, a one-hour introductory session now is offered on the second day of the freshman SOAR program.

As a result of the presentations, the director of enrollment services reports that faculty contact with the financial-aid office has increased and that they're beginning to see the connection between academics and financial aid.

Staffing Requirements: The director of enrollment services currently is responsible for presenting Module 1 in the freshman-orientation classes.

Recommendations: Knowing your audience is a prerequisite for implementing USA Funds Life Skills. Suggestions offered by the director of enrollment services include the following:

• If a freshmen-orientation course is the potential vehicle for delivering the program, find out who makes decisions about curriculum development and what factors are likely to guide their decisions.
• Let faculty know that USA Funds Life Skills was developed by a team of professors.
• Bringing faculty in early if you want them involved.
• Ask the faculty to think about how they want the material presented to their student groups, especially when someone else will present the material.
• A USA Funds consultant can be helpful in describing to campus leaders how the program is presented on other campuses.
• Once the program is implemented, it's time to think about expanding the uses of the program, as well as increasing the pool of presenters.
• Let faculty know that all support materials are included if they decide to present the modules.
• Attending train-the-trainer workshops sponsored by USA Funds can help to increase the comfort level of potential presenters.
• Attending multiple training sessions can help to facilitate future planning for additional presenters and modules.

Campus Contact:
Celeastia (Cleo) Williams, Director of Enrollment Services
Phone: (818) 767-0888, Ext. 220
E-mail: celeastia.williams@woodbury.edu