Many college students struggle with managing budgets and understanding financial literacy. According to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), only 40% of four-year college students have taken a personal finance course.
Western Washington University works to combat a lack of financial literacy through the Merriman Financial Literacy Program. The program offers peer mentorship, access to financial management tools and organizes events aimed to educate on saving, investing and budgeting.
The peer mentor program has students from the College of Business and Economics instruct people participating in the program on how to manage finances. This benefits the mentor and mentee. The mentee gains some method of understanding their finances, and the mentor gains work experience for future job prospects.
Yousef Tirhi, a third-year finance and entrepreneurship major who is employed as a peer mentor, said the program’s objective is to focus on the specific needs of students.
“To get personal financial literacy for each student. Everyone's finances is a little bit different, so making it very tailored and personal to each student is the goal,” Tirhi said.
Tirhi said he and other mentors work to give students a financial plan that is different from other financial programs by focusing on the students' individual needs. Students have used this program to learn subjects not taught in class or typical media sources.
Andrew Long, a third-year economics major, found the importance of planning for the future through peer mentorship.
“One thing I took away was how in the grand scheme of things retirement is far off but not that far off, and how important [it] is to start preparing for the future sooner rather than later because before you know it, it will be time for you to retire,” Long said.
Elizabeth Snyder, a financial investment advisor of Trail Financial Planning and Western alumna, said the resources through Western aren’t the only way college students can learn and build effective financial literacy skills.
“First step for any budgeting is to build awareness, like nonjudgmental awareness, of what you're actually spending,” Snyder said. “Take a look at how it's working for you, decide what changes you're going to make, and then kind of monitor those changes.”
Snyder found there are some money pit falls students should try to avoid if possible.
“People have a lot of magical thinking around money,” Snyder said. “People get credit cards, and all of a sudden, they think they have maybe more money than they actually do…You still have the same amount of money you always did. You just have a different way that you're paying for things.”
With the Merriman Financial Literacy Program, students can discuss how to use a credit card effectively and not fall for potential blind spots in money management.
The program hopes to expand on what it's already built in the Bellingham community.
“We're hoping to partner with a local bank to teach the tellers about the personal financial literacy topics they might not be super familiar with to give them a better understanding of how to work with clients they work with on a day-to-day basis,” Tirhi said.
The program is holding a workshop on May 29 at 4 p.m. in the Biology Building, room 234. The workshop will teach students about Strategies For Financial Success.
Jaimee Wacker (she/her) is a campus life reporter for The Front. She is a visual journalism major. Outside of The Front, she can be found making videos and interacting with the many ethnic student clubs here at Western. You can reach her at jaimee.thefront@gmail.com.
