The College of Saint Scholastica is approaching student health in an innovative, holistic way. The school’s One Stop Wellness Center has identified six tenants of student overall wellbeing, including financial health. Through One Stop’s website, students can immediately access resources for each different area of student health. CashCourse is part of the school’s financial literacy programming and is used across campus.
Bridget Bonet, a student services senior counselor at College of Saint Scholastica’s one-stop wellness program, has helped integrate financial literacy in a holistic approach to student health. Financial literacy is considered a tenant under Saint Scholastica’s one-stop wellness program that also covers a student’s physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and environmental health. Including financial wellness as an aspect of a student’s overall health is a growing trend among colleges.
The One-Stop Wellness Center uses these different tenants to highlight campus programs in each area. CashCourse is featured as a resource to help improve a student’s financial health. The program features a wellness wheel which helps students learn about resources available to them.
“We have a group of student peer mentors called WellU Financial Savvy Saints that help spread the word about CashCourse through presentations, workshops, and assisting with one-on-one meetings with other students,” Bonet explains.
In addition to this peer mentor program, CashCourse is linked through St. Scholastica’s freshman orientation and used in their Student Support Services (TRiO) department. CashCourse is used in tandem with several other financial education resources making for a campus-wide culture of financial capability.
“We went through the process of looking at about six to seven different programs for financial literacy. We found CashCourse met our needs for free and we’ve been using it since,” Bonet says.
The College of St. Scholastica’s One-Stop Student Services concentrates on teaching students about credit, debt, and budgeting. Keeping the topics relevant to the students’ current day-to-day life makes the information feel more real and helps make a lasting impact.
“We want students to be equipped on how to repay their student loans. This includes understanding budgeting, credit, and overall money management,” Bonet says, “We have had students come back after graduation and ask for help. Teaching financial education helps mitigate student issues even after they graduate.”
When asked on advice for other schools using CashCourse, Bonet answers, “Be persistent with it because it takes a long time to get something going. You must have support from different departments to really make it a campus culture. CashCourse is a great way to get started.”
August 2015