Effective money management and financial literacy skills are among the most important real-life lessons for students and families in today's challenging economy. Beyond the short-term implications of mismanaging money and debt, poor financial habits can adversely affect a student's ability to continue his or her education, buy a house or car, or even find a job. The need for better financial literacy education has never been more acute. To help students avoid financial pitfalls, a growing number of campuses are looking for ways to reach their students by developing and implementing financial literacy training programs.

Determining student needs

As a financial aid administrator, consider your campus's needs to help you define and develop a plan for an effective financial literacy program. Some schools mandate specific financial literacy courses for all students, while other campuses have opted for a more comprehensive program to address all aspects of personal finance. Other schools prefer a more piecemeal approach that lets students select topics they feel are relevant to their unique situation. Regardless of the structure you choose, remember to focus on reaching students during key transitional periods, such as when they enter and leave college or move on- or off-campus.

The variety of possible approaches point to the first step in any financial literacy initiative: finding out what students need and want from such a program. Counselors planning a program have a wide variety of elements teaching options to choose from, including workshops, online courses, traditional classroom-based academic courses, individual counseling, student mentor programs, and using content developed by other schools and institutions.

Employ focus groups to determine what best fits your students' needs. Start with students most likely to participate in a financial literacy program, and then target portions of the student population less likely to be involved. Internal surveys of faculty members and other student service-oriented offices can also provide direction when planning and developing financial education programs.

Securing approval and funding

Once you have identified the scope of your campus' financial literacy program, you must then define the program's goals and get buy-in from school leaders. As with any new initiative, this entails finding resources and determining logistics. A clear vision of the program's plan and intentions should be established, and it should be consistent with the school's existing culture.

One of the most challenging aspects of launching a new financial literacy program involves funding it. Your campus might consider linking the program to a degree-granting department, with funding provided through course fees. Other options for securing the necessary funding include assessing a flat program fee from every student, seeking outside grants or alumni donations, or receiving funds from for-profit financial institutions like banks and insurance companies. If possible, secure multiple funding sources in order to assure that money will be there should one source dry up.

Implementing the program

Once a program has cleared the hurdle of administrative approval and found the needed funding, it's time to get started. While the enthusiasm of a new venture can carry a program a long way, remember the importance of starting small, being patient, and expecting a few lean years at first. The most important thing during this early period is to seek out and draw on the program's character and strengths. Find out early on what part of the program works best and then develop it.

Use this primary strength as a foundation on which to build the program's continued recognition and reputation on campus. Marketing a new program must be a top-of-mind priority, not least because financial advising programs are still a relatively new presence on campuses throughout the country. Many students might not expect money management courses to be made available in college, so financial literacy program developers must work diligently to get the message to their students, and then do so repeatedly. Possible communication channels include booths and flyers in the student union, bus ads, and advertising on the school's Web site or in other campus publications. Given the increasingly plugged in lifestyle of today's students, consider reaching them through social networking sites like Facebook® or Twitter™.

Moving forward: Improving established programs

Some of you may already have funding sources established, and perhaps some students know about, use, and benefit from your program's services. Where do you go from here?

In order to address all aspects of students' financial concerns, work closely with other campus offices, and keep in touch with the individuals working closely with students every day. Also, take the time to regularly evaluate students' responses to your financial literacy initiatives, and set relevant, measurable goals for improvements. Student surveys are an effective method of achieving one essential goal of any financial education initiative - expanding the range of programming offered - by revealing new services and topics students want.

Ultimately, the end purpose of measuring outcomes and expanding services reinforces the purpose of implementing financial literacy programs in the first place - improving the lives of students. If your campus is in the early stages of considering program options, remember you have colleagues who have been down this road already. Seek them out. The exchange of ideas, experiences, and information with other financial literacy program administrators will help make your program that much more effective.

Bill McFarland is a senior regional account executive with TG serving schools in SWASFAA. You can reach Bill at (800) 252-9743, ext. 2505, or by e-mail at bill.mcfarland@tgslc.org. Additional information about TG can be found online at www.tgslc.org.