It’s no secret that many college students lack financial know-how.
According to a 2008 survey by the Jump$tart Coalition, for example, college freshman across the U.S. were only able to answer 59 percent of the 31 questions given to them on basic personal finance topics.
In an effort to reverse that trend, the University of Hartford has begun a two-front effort to give students access to the financial basics, including how to manage their spending, credit and other debts.
First, the school has established a three-credit course known as Personal Financial Management, which will give students information on how to manage their money, both in college and after graduation.
Topics covered will include goal setting, career planning, budgeting, using credit cards and debt responsibly, evaluating major purchases, saving and investing, tax planning, and insurance.
The course, which will be offered during the fall and spring semester, will be open to all university students regardless of class status and does not require any prerequisites.
UHart has also established the Center for Personal Financial Responsibility (CPFR), which will provide a series of one-hour seminars to students about various financial topics.
CPFR and the personal finance course were developed by Susan Coleman, a professor of finance at the university’s Barney School of Business, and Mitchell D. Weiss, who heads a consulting practice to banks and private equity firms in addition to being an adjunct professor of finance at Barney.
Weiss says the class was developed in direct response to the financial crisis and a need to get students more in tune with how to handle their finances.
He said the class is unique and necessary because most colleges, particularly four-year institutions, don’t offer coursework on the subject because they don’t view personal finance as a core part of the curriculum.
Weiss added that the class has gotten wide interest from students. The inaugural course began last week with 25 students enrolled, including individuals with varying majors like music and fine arts.
“I think that this information has a better opportunity to resonate with students now as they become financially active,” Weiss said.
Weiss said the economic crisis has shown that even mom and dad are getting into financial trouble, so the need to start learning personal financial responsibility as early as possible is paramount.
CPFR will provide a series of one-hour seminars during the coming school year, including one in the fall to teach incoming-freshman how to handle credit card and bank offers. A spring 2010 seminar will teach seniors how to negotiate salaries, rent an apartment, and other topics. These and other presentations will be made by CPFR staff, student volunteers who have successfully completed the core course, and executives from the banking and finance industries.
Coleman and Weiss hope that, eventually, the CPFR can provide service-learning opportunities for students who could then go into surrounding public school, college and university settings to teach others about personal financial management.
“Students who are exposed to this material will learn how to make more informed decisions and consequently, live better, more financially independent lives,” Weiss said.
State Loses Bank Branches
As of June 30, Connecticut had 16 fewer bank branches than it did a year earlier, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The total number of federally insured bank branches in the state as of June 30, 2009 was 1,288, a 1.2 percent decline from the year ago period, when Connecticut had 1,304 bank branches.
Citibank, which ranks 11th in market share with $1.8 billion in deposits in Connecticut, shuttered a third of its 30 branches, the most in the state.
In 2008 the Hartford Business Journal reported that Citigroup said it would close 10 Citibank branches in northern Connecticut, and that it also cancelled plans to open a new branch in the Hartford region.
Citigroup has been hit hard by the recession and has suffered severe losses in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis. The banking behemoth has received $45 billion in bailout funds and reported late last month a loss of 27 cents a share.
Greg Bordonaro is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
