The University’s Student Financial Management Center is now offering students personalized finance help through one-on-one appointments.
The center, housed in B4 Coates Hall, provides resources to help students create and maintain financially responsible behaviors, according to a Sept. 9 news release.
The facility educates students through online resources, visiting campus organizations and now through one-on-one individualized appointments, said Emily Burris, coordinator for the SFMC.
Burris said the center piloted one-on-one appointments in the spring and received positive feedback from students.
The appointments will let students take a comprehensive look at their finances by setting up budgets and learning how to manage their money, Burris said.
The appointments are confidential and may be scheduled by e-mail or phone.
“Typically, we don’t schedule appointments the day of,” Burris said. “The farther in advance a student schedules, the better.”
Each appointment is tailored to the individual’s needs, Burris said.
“Depending on what they come in for, [SFMC] can tell them to bring in different documents, things that make appointments … most successful,” she said.
Students will also be given a checklist at the beginning of each session to identify key points they would like more information about.
Frances Lawrence, human ecology professor and editor of the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, helped create the checklist and said it is a quick way for the person conducting the one-on-one to address the student’s main concerns.
“Often one-on-one is the best way to help students,” she said. “Classes are wonderful, but having a one-on-one conversation allows you to target the concerns of the students.”
Burris stressed the importance of learning money management.
“The better hold you can get on finances now, the better off you will be in long run,” Burris said. “Most people wait to start to budget or save money for when they’ve graduated. At that point, if you don’t have the basic skills, you will be behind.”
The earlier students learn how to manage their finances, the better, Lawrence added.
“We hope that students will have financial literacy before they come to college,” she said. “But that’s not always the case.”
Burris said the earlier students come in, the more the center will be able to assist them.
“A lot of the basic money management principals are common sense, but putting them to use is hard for most of us,” Burris said. “The Student Financial Management Center gives basic tips on how to deal with finances.”
Lawrence said the real key is keeping students out of debt and alleviating financial stress. She advises all students to live within their means and to save for the future.
“If students know about the center and use the center, it can definitely help,” she said. “The center is one of the best resources LSU has for students. It’s such a gem.”
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]