Financial Coaching
Money Smart Financial Coaching Program
The Money Smart Program offers personal finance tools, resources, and customized advice to help participants manage their money and plan for future success. It is a free service and open to any student on campus.
Money Smart participants can take advantage of:
- One-on-one sessions with a financial coach to help them create a customized financial plan;
- Workshops on a range of personal finance topics offered twice a month, and open to all students; and
- Career readiness activities to help them gain strategies for job search and career exploration.
Outcomes for Students
Every student in the program works with a financial coach to set specific financial goals and to create an action plan. Students who complete the full program will earn a Certificate of Achievement and Digital Badge to document their achievement of the program.
Goals that the students work on include:
- Managing bank accounts
- Creating a budget
- Starting a savings plan with a monthly target
- Reducing credit card debt
- Paying down student loans
- Building credit or starting to build a credit record
- Improving a credit report and credit score
Signing up is easy!
- Interested students can complete a short application form.
- We will then set up an appointment for an introductory meeting with one of our financial coaches.
- After the introductory meeting, students generally meet with their coach for about 30 minutes every other week.
Money Smart Forum Financial Coaching Program Application
Student Success Story: Pablo
Pablo emigrated from Ecuador to the US in 2015, hoping for an opportunity to further his education and build a future. With very few English skills, he enrolled in English as a Second Language classes at Westchester Community College, and in a short time progressed to the highest skill level. He joined the Money Smart Forum in 2018 because he had a goal of pursuing an engineering degree but needed to figure out how to pay for tuition and other expenses. Pablo is now in the process of realizing his ambition. In 2019, he matriculated as a full-time credit student pursuing an AS degree in engineering science. Ultimately, he hopes to transfer to a four-year college to complete a bachelor’s degree in engineering, leading to a career in the automobile industry.
Pablo credits the Money Smart Forum for helping him to understand the basics of the financial system in this country. As Pablo says, “I learned that saving is not an amount, it is about lifestyle choices.” Through using a budget and tracking his expenses, he has been able to accumulate savings that will take him to the next step in his career plan.
This program is funded by a grant from JPMorganChase
