College students have no shortage of racked up finances.
The Financial Literacy club at NCC looks to inform students on what it means to be financially literate.
Financial literacy can be summed up as learning how to handle money. But that can be a very basic and narrow definition. Students also learn about interest rates, property taxes, investing, credit cards and credit scores, student loans, debt management and bankruptcy. It’s more than just handling money; it’s about financial decisions and how to handle them.
What does the Financial Literacy club do?
The Center of Financial Literacy runs all of this, with the club as an extension. Ryan Decker is the director of the center and the club adviser.
“We provide financial education to our community,” said Decker. “That includes North Central students, but also local high schools and the adult community.”
For the adult community, they work on two fronts. One works with organizations to help those with low incomes. The other works with corporations to talk about 401(k) plans, IRAs and planning for retirement.
“We talk to these high schoolers and play games with them.” said Megan Sly, ’21. “We even met a Girl Scout troop to talk about budgeting.” Students are paid for their work in these events.
For students here on campus, financial workshops and talks are held with speakers to talk about money management. One such event was held on Oct. 9 with Peter Paolilli, a member of the advisory board for the Financial Literacy Center.
“Don’t start saving when you’re in your late twenties (and) don’t spend more than you’re making. Saving adds up,” said Paolilli.
NCC top-ranked school in financial literacy
In a recent blog post by LendEDU, they compared hundreds of colleges and universities in the U.S. to see what schools had the best programs for financial literacy. NCC was ranked 41 out of 50, along with big-name schools such as Stanford University, Harvard University, Yale University and Loyola University Chicago.
To put that into perspective, Stanford is considered the second-highest ranked school in the U.S. It has over 16,000 students and many famous alumni, such as the 31st President of the U.S. Herbert Hoover. NCC, however, is 13th in Regional Universities Midwest and has over 2,600 students and alumni such as John Warne Gates.
“It feels good to have that feedback,” said Dominic Dina, ’20, the club’s president. “Just for the club to be over a year old and getting that ranking looks good but we can grow bigger from that.”
While the club at NCC is fairly new, it is ranked amongst other longstanding programs at other colleges.
“If we can be on that list, that means that not many other universities are doing this,” said Decker. “It means a lot that we’re listed alongside those other schools, it lets the public know that we play at these high levels and we have some valuable programs and resources for our students to manage their lives when they graduate.”
