The Financial Wellness and Empowerment Program continues to expand with new course offerings and programs. We piloted Personal Finance for Non-Business Majors last Spring with 6 students in it and it is currently being offered with 20 students. It is a 3 credit class open to all UP students. Additionally, the Smart Money 1 Credit 9 week class is offered and it is full each semester. This class is really an introduction to basic Personal Finance concepts to provide UP students with the basics.
Then we have two major developments: 1) We are developing the curriculum for an Advanced Financial Planning and Counseling course to be rolled out this summer in session I and offered again Spring of 2020 as part of a new program where students can earn an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC) designation by taking 6 Personal Finance Course Credits, performing supervised community service and sitting for and passing an exam. We will be the first University in the State to offer the AFC Designation.
And last in terms of very exciting news – we have officially rolled out our Cash Flow Club High School Affiliation Program. The first High School in our Program is De La Salle North Catholic. The concept is new and sort of modeled after the Peace Corps Concepts: where our students learn Financial Literacy and then will go into High Schools and teach and mentor high schoolers. Our students have to learn and practice the concepts so they are capable of teaching and becoming role models. It’s students serving students. We have just started the Program, but the goal is to expand into 2 or 3 additional high schools next year as long as we can find the funding. We know that the younger we start with the kids the better their chances are for making good financial decisions and taking control of their financial destiny. There is a new term that I just heard the other day, it’s FIRE. It stands for Financially Independent Retired Early.
I would say that many of our Cash Flow Club students are striving to be on FIRE. One last plug … This year Smart Money Weekend will begin March 16th. We are thinking about having a session or two for our Alumni.
Chris Dunnaville, University of Portland Director of Financial Education
Pamplin School of Business Finance Instructor