Peer Counselors Present USA Funds Life Skills to Purdue Students

During freshman orientation Purdue University students learn about money management from their peers, in student-led presentations based on USA Funds Life Skills^®.

As part of Boiler Gold Rush, the university’s weeklong comprehensive introduction to college life, students can choose among many interest sessions to attend. In the Money 101 session, peer counselors, who work in the university’s financial-aid office, teach their fellow students about the importance of budgeting, how to assess their financial needs, how to determine the amount of student debt they can handle, and the good and bad uses of credit, says Marcia Osman, assistant director of client services and state aid at the West Lafayette, Ind., university.

“We feel the students internalize the information better when they hear it from their peers rather than someone like me who likely resembles their mother,” Osman says. 

Peer counselors receive five weeks of training before they begin working in the financial-aid office. They work full time during the summer months and part time during the school year. They answer many students’ questions — both in person and on the phone. Each year USA Funds^® provides training for the counselors who will make the USA Funds Life Skills presentations.

Although the sessions last only 45 or 50 minutes, the student presenters pack lots of information into the allotted time and refer students to activities they can complete on their own in the USA Funds Life Skills workbook they receive.

“It’s very interactive,” Osman says. “They play a game or two, answer questions — and the students ask good questions.”

USA Funds Life Skills is a flexible financial-literacy program that helps postsecondary institutions teach their students to manage their time and money wisely while they are on campus and after graduation. Purdue uses Module 1, “Get a Grip on Your Finances — Smart Spending for Students.”

As students enter the session, presenters ask the students if they want to sign up for a “fake” credit card. Anyone who completes the form, which includes definitions for the terms used on an actual credit-card application, receives a Dum Dum sucker to subtly emphasize that applying for a credit card might not be a good idea. Later in the program, participants talk more about credit-card applications, the use of credit cards, and what features to look for when applying for one, Osman says.

About 50 students attended the sessions this fall, and the financial-aid office is working to develop other ways to reach students on campus with this important financial information.

Peer counselors are available to make presentations in dormitories if the residence halls request it, and they also can provide sessions to specific groups on campus. Osman says the office is developing relationships with campus groups such as Twenty-first Century Scholars, students receiving state scholarships toward four years of tuition based on their meeting academic and citizenship standards while in middle school and high school. On Oct 19 Osman plans to deliver sessions in the Student Union in recognition of the first Financial Literacy Week in Indiana. The peer counselors and Osman work together to tailor the presentations to the audiences receiving the information.

“I like the fact that USA Funds Life Skills is very hands-on,” Osman says. “We don’t go through all the material with the students because they can use the workbook on their own. It creates an incentive to interest students to attend.”

USA Funds Life Skills materials are available for ordering online. For more information about USA Funds Life Skills, contact your debt-management consultant.