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Money
Sense Via E-mail
By Jennifer Faddis
Eliminating debt, opting out of solicitations, negotiating a lower
credit card rate and understanding changes to student loan legislation
- these are all topics that appeared in thousands of e-mail inboxes
as the "Financial Tip of the Week" from the University
of Missouri-Columbia's Office for Financial Success. This is a
unique way of bringing attention to the fact that financial counseling
is available on campus and important because more students will
drop out of college for financial reasons than academic reasons,
according to Director Mark Oleson.
"The financial world is complicated,"
said Oleson, assistant professor in the College of Human Environmental
Sciences' Department of Personal Financial Planning. "Both
good and bad information is being given, mostly by people who
have a vested interest. At the Office for Financial Success, we
have a unique opportunity to be able to offer unbiased, personalized
information."
Oleson created the "Financial Tip of
the Week" e-mail to let college students know that financial
help is available. The program has grown so large that the free
weekly e-mail is now sent to a list of 43,000 consumers nationwide.
The idea also captured the attention of Freddie Mac. The organization
just bestowed the program with the first place 2006 Successful
Models in Financial Education Award in the category of successful
outreach and marketing.
"I wanted to inform students about the
available financial counseling services. If someone didn't know
about it and could have benefited from it, that bothers me,"
Oleson said. "Our primary clients are people who read the
tip and wouldn't even know about this resource if not for the
e-mail."
Other schools have taken notice of the program
and have expressed interest in modeling it. Oleson has talked
with people from Northern Colorado University, The University
of Alabama-Birmingham, Columbia College and DePaul. He also has
been invited to present information about the program at a Credit
Union conference in San Diego.
"Students preparing to graduate may find
themselves with student loans to manage, their own bills to pay
for the first time and 401K decisions to make and have no idea
where to begin," Oleson said. "Workshops are good but
lack personalized information. Advice from a student loan consolidator
may display a conflict of interest. That is why it is important
for students to realize that they have access to financial education
resources."
To enroll in the program, go to the MU
Office of Financial Success Web site.
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Copyright © 2007 — Curators of the University of Missouri
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An equal opportunity/ADA institution.
Published by the Mizzou Alumni Association
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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