Money-related barriers to college students’ success have expanded from debt and financial literacy to food insecurity and homelessness. Fortunately for higher education institutions, Indiana University is a national leader on this topic and a key resource with the programs and networking it offers.
HEFWA, which has 235 member institutions, was established after the success of the annual Higher Education Financial Wellness Summit that IU co-founded in 2014, then known as the National Summit on Collegiate Financial Wellness.
“IU is committed to student success and opportunity, and we want to lead change that occurs and help universities see what that looks like and learn from other institutions,” said Phil Schuman, president of the Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance and director of financial wellness and education at IU.
Additional resources that HEFWA offers to members are a mentorship program, public webinars, quarterly master class workshops and an online financial education platform for students.
The benefit of HEFWA’s efforts, Schuman said, is that colleges and universities are creating more financial wellness programs and providing students more resources and support.
Significant financial challenges
Schuman said he and co-founder Bryan Ashton believed there was a need for colleges and universities to educate their students about debt and personal finance and decided that organizing a summit focused on those issues would be beneficial. The inaugural event drew 110 professionals from 60 higher education institutions.
“The summit is designed to create spaces for higher education institutions to dive into the big issues around student financial wellness; the ones colleges and universities cannot solve alone,” said Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, IU’s vice president for student success. “That so many institutions participate is evidence of its success.”
Increasing interest in the event led to the creation of the Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance in early 2020.
While the focus of the summit, and then HEFWA, started with student debt and financial literacy, it grew to a broader financial wellness view that includes additional barriers to college completion, including food insecurity, housing insecurity, transportation and technology.
Schuman said the need to expand the focus became evident when Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, and even in 2018 many students were having academic problems because their families were still struggling after being displaced. The COVID-19 pandemic also brought these types of issues to the forefront, he added.
One student Schuman talked to was paying her way through school, working three jobs while trying to be a full-time student. She was also managing a medical issue that sometimes prevented her from working, hindering her ability to pay for school.
Schuman said the student was connected to a variety of resources to help but added that he doesn’t like seeing students in these types of stressful situations.
Another student Schuman talked to is a single mom with a special-needs child who is going to school full-time and working full-time.
“This student, despite all of the challenges she faces, continues to persist because she believes that her IU degree will provide a better life for her family,” Schuman said. “We want to make sure she has the resources she needs while at IU to thrive.”
In addition to specific concerns, today’s students are navigating more issues related to the cost of attending college, including living expenses, travel expenses and food. All the costs have increased, which puts pressures particularly on non-traditional and low- or limited-income students, Schuman said.
Ashton is now the head of Trellis Strategies and its chief strategy and growth officer. The nonprofit research organization supports higher education institutions with data and analysis about student success issues.
“We see in exit surveys of students who start and don’t finish that finances are one of the top two reported reasons,” Ashton said.
The financial stresses make it difficult to focus on academics, he added.
Helpful resources
As colleges and universities try to address this issue and provide ample resources to support students, Ashton said the Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance is a tremendous resource because it offers a community for professionals in this field.
The mentors offer advice and guidance to help the mentees reach their goals, said Sara Wilson, director of product innovation for Student Connections, who was one of HEFWA’s initial volunteers and serves as its director of programs.
The ACE program also provides time for each cohort to interact and network as a group, so they can share goals, ask questions and offer advice. Wilson said that some mentees later participate as mentors because their initial experience was beneficial.
Mallorie Smith, a financial literacy coordinator for the Student Money Management Center at Mississippi State University, participated as a mentee in the 2022-23 cohort and then as a mentor in the 2023-24 cohort.
“It was incredibly impactful for my program to have my ACE coach’s help and guidance,” Smith said. “He showed me how to turn the many thoughts in my head into a concrete, sustainable plan.”
In late 2020, the National Endowment for Financial Education announced the discontinuation of CashCourse, which it offered for free to 1,300 schools to help provide financial education to students. IU reached an agreement for HEFWA to take over operation of CashCourse, which is offered to more than 4 million students at four-year and two-year institutions — including IU — and some high schools.
In addition, Wilson said HEFWA has conducted 49 public webinars with more than 4,500 registrants, and nine master class workshops for alliance members with nearly 400 attendees.
The programs the alliance offers ultimately benefit students by giving higher education professionals information, resources and action plans they can take and use at their institution.
“Financial wellness programs across the nation demonstrate a deep commitment to the students they serve and show that their campus community cares about them as a whole person,” Payne-Kirchmeier said. “When students feel universities care about them, they are more likely to persist, graduate and engage with a meaningful career. This is student success in action, and HEFWA is leading the way.”
