To raise financial literacy on campus, the Financial Supports Commission of UCLA’s undergraduate student government has teamed up with the University Credit Union to create two “financial fitness” workshops.
Free of cost and open to all UCLA undergraduate students, “Six Steps to Financial Success” is the first of two workshops to be held on the Hill, said Sonia Bhasin, the commission’s financial aid director.
With class, friends, family, clubs and other activities, learning these essential skills is sometimes daunting and time-consuming, which is why the workshops are intended to provide students with resources, said Aresha Martinez, chief of staff of the Financial Supports Commission.
The first workshop takes into consideration establishing financial goals, creating and spending a savings plan, taking inventory on expenses, and learning how to live on a personal budget, said Rene Garcia, membership development coordinator of the University Credit Union.
The second workshop, “Identity Theft,” will be held on April 28 in De Neve.
A representative from the University Credit Union will lead the workshops and provide information about how to manage money in a variety of situations, Martinez said.
“We believe that students should take initiative by empowering and educating themselves on learning money management,” she said. “It is important to educate students about their finances before they graduate and go out into the job market.”
Organized through the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Financial Aid Committee, the financial fitness workshops are aimed at educating students on being financially savvy as well as giving students tools to manage their money more effectively, Martinez said.
In addition to the workshops, free copies of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “Money Smart for Young Adults” CDs are available in the Financial Supports Commission office in Kerckhoff Hall.
The Financial Supports Commission is responsible for investigating and researching areas of financial concern to students and then taking action to ensure those concerns are being addressed, Bhasin said.
Earlier this year, the commission put together the Textbook Scholarship and Textbook Loan Program.
Bhasin said that she hopes the Financial Supports Commission’s collaboration with the University Credit Union, a nonprofit personalized bank accessible to the UCLA community, will create a beneficial experience through these workshops and that it may later develop into a financial literacy workshop series.
“We encourage all UCLA students to attend so as to receive sound financial information for financial success during these economic tough times and for the future,” Garcia said.