By Larry Urish, contributing writer
The numbers are sobering: More than one in four college students give their personal finances a grade of “C” or worse, according to an August 2024 nationwide survey by WalletHub. The same survey notes that seven in 10 college students feel overwhelmed by their financial responsibilities and that one in five have no plan to pay off their student debt after graduating.
Here’s the good news: The powers that be at Cal State Fullerton understand that many students deal with financial stress, and they realize that offering them a way to better understand the elements of personal finance can help reduce this stress. To that end, the university’s Basic Needs Services office, which furnishes a variety of programs and support to help Titans experiencing unforeseen financial hardship, is offering Financial Wellness Peer Mentoring.
Through this program, which began last semester, CSUF students meet one-on-one with a peer mentor, a fellow student, to discuss a variety of financial literacy topics: building healthy money-management practices, credit basics, budgeting, debt management and more.
“Speaking about finances can be a touchy subject,” said Victoria Ajemian, director of Basic Needs Services. “They often feel more comfortable broaching topics like this with a peer. Having the student-to-student dynamic makes the subject and the challenge more relatable. We’ve seen students who’ve never had any exposure to financial literacy, who’ve never heard financial terms or never started a budget. There’s a need across our campus to get this information out there.”
Ajemian noted that discussing finances may be daunting when the conversation involves a finance professional. “College students are more relatable to other college students,” she said. “Students may think, ‘This peer mentor has had a similar experience. Let’s check this out and give it a try.’ ”
“Students ask a lot of different questions,” said Tran Nguyen, a second-year business administration student and financial wellness peer mentor. “The process is tailored to each individual. We try to make this as accessible as possible. The sessions average around 30 minutes, and we can meet with them in person or virtually. … One student commented after a session, ‘This felt so much like a coffee chat, like I was meeting a friend, rather than a professional advisor.’ She was able to be more transparent because I could relate to her in a lot of ways.”
The peer-mentoring effort is part of Basic Needs Services’ Financial Literacy Program. “Students can access all of our programs, which are virtual, via Zoom, if they’re not ready for one-on-one mentoring,” Ajemian said. “We also record programs to have on our website, as well.” To access a helpful variety of YouTube videos, visit the Financial Literacy Program site (fullerton.edu/basic-needs/programs/financial.html) and scroll to the bottom of the page.
In addition to the training that all Basic Needs Services student assistants receive — discussions about the specific services provided, the importance of respecting privacy and some of the challenges faced by students seeking assistance — peer mentors learn how to effectively engage with students in a one-on-one session. Additional training covers the topics offered through Basic Needs Services’ Financial Literacy Program, as well as issues based on specific questions that come up during the sessions.
“We have group conversations about what financial wellness means to them and how to apply that to a student coming in for help,” Ajemian said. “As this is only our second semester, we’re still learning what topics students are seeking through peer mentoring, and we’ll adjust our training in the future as needed.”
Both Ajemian and Nguyen stressed that the peer mentors are not financial advisers. “If a student comes to a peer-mentoring session with pointed questions designed for a professional advisor, we’ll direct them to other resources,” Ajemian said. “Some of these resources include the Office of Financial Aid, Student Business Services and the Scholarships Office.”
This semester, drop-in hours for one-on-one mentoring, which takes place in Gordon Hall, Room 179, are Thursdays, 1-3 p.m., and Fridays, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Zoom sessions are also available.
Students seeking assistance can also schedule an appointment by visiting the Financial Literacy Program site (see the web address above) and selecting the link located under the Financial Wellness Peer Mentoring header, near the top of the page.
Peer mentors have benefitted from the Financial Wellness program, as well. “They get a lot of transferrable skills that can apply to a variety of careers,” Ajemian said. “And in having direct conversations with students, they hone their professional conversational skills.”
“This experience has developed my knowledge in a variety of finance topics because I was able to learn from both the training and the hands-on experience helping others,” Nguyen said. “And when I leave Cal State Fullerton, I can also look back and see how much I was able to contribute and be a part of this community.”
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