FSU offers new financial literacy initiative

By Sarah Parron Staff Writer The Dean of Students Office is promoting financial literacy among students, faculty, and staff through the Kindros Foundation. Coordinator of Student Support Resources Nathalia Faria said the initiative is a product of a collaboration between the University’s Financial Literacy Committee and herself this summer. Faria said the mission of the program is to “empower students to make informed decisions, develop healthy financial habits and create a strong foundation for the future.” Through a SharePoint site, students can access information about financial education that helps grow confidence and expand financial knowledge. “It’s a great platform. You’ll learn a lot and engage with financial literacy,” said Faria. According to the Kindros Foundation, “Students can earn a financial literacy certificate by completing all three modules within a learning track and passing the required assessments. They can track their progress, view earned credentials, and download or share completed certificates on LinkedIn.” Faria said the use of the platform by students has been low so far. “Unfortunately, we haven’t had a lot of students use it, but a lot of our faculty, our staff, a few students, they’ve actually found it very easy to get to,” she said. She added she’s heard feedback that the “content was personable” and the platform was easy to understand. As a way to promote the program, the Dean of Students Office created postcards with sayings intended to grab people's attention. Faria said one of the postcards states, “Your situationship is complicated. Your finances don’t have to be.” Another postcard says, “You can’t fix your ex. You can fix your budget.” Faria added the Dean of Students Office is hoping to expand programming around financial literacy by training students as Money Mentors in the spring. “It might be easier to hear from a student than to hear from an adult about finances,” she said. Faria encouraged students who are interested in serving as a Money Mentor to contact her. “We’ll be having trainings for you, and then hopefully letting you out in the wild in the spring to work with students,” she said. Corban Allen, a sophomore, said, “I definitely think that financial literacy is important.” Youbi Essaoui, a senior, said, “People need to know how to use money and not spend it carelessly. Especially in this economy and this time.” Magnus Handren, a sophomore, said, “I think I have a decent amount of financial literacy knowledge, but I really think I should learn some more.”