CFEE Guidebook

26 BUILDING FINANCIAL CAPABILITY THROUGH FINANCIAL COACHING Serving Students with Disabilities Coaching programs also need to serve students with disabilities. The Money Smart Forum had participants with a variety of learning disabili- ties and physical disabilities. For students with learning issues, the coaches had to adapt the coaching sessions to make sure the student was able to grasp basic concepts, like tracking expenses and budgeting. We also found that students with disabilities who were not em- ployed were more likely to be unbanked and without savings. In some cases, these students were receiving public benefits or Supplemen- tal Security Income (SSI) and family members managed (or mismanaged) their money on their behalf. In a few instances, the coaches encountered students who had been victims of fraud, some- times by their own family members. In these cases, it was important for the coach to help make the student aware of ways to advocate for themselves and to utilize other social services available in the community. We also learned how to accommodate the needs of hearing-impaired participants by conducting sessions with an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. These sessions were arranged through our college’s Office for Students with Disabilities. Working with participants with disabilities highlighted the fact that there are very few personal finance resources available to individuals with hearing loss or blindness. Even the most frequently used personal finance websites have embedded videos or other materials not accessible to users with hearing or vision issues. In the case of Money Smart Forum students with disabilities, they were able to use the skills gained in their coaching sessions to pay off debt, build savings, and pursue new job opportunities. Attaining these goals without the guidance of an in-per- son coach would have been more difficult, if not impossible, given the students’ limited financial circumstances. Design Training around the Goals of Your Program The training required for financial coaches will depend on the goals of a coaching program, the level of experience of the coaches, and the budget available. Programs can be structured using practitioners with a variety of back- grounds. Some programs may use paid coaches with financial credentials or coaching creden- tials, while other programs may use volunteer coaches from the community. Some colleges also may choose to use student volunteers or peer coaches, where students are trained to be financial coaches. However, the peer coach model has some drawbacks in that there is still a cost to training students and coordinating the coaching schedule. There is also the issue of privacy and confidentiality, since some stu- dents who sign up for coaching may not want to share their personal financial information with another student. There are a number of training options for financial coaching, including organizations that provide a coaching platform as well as training for coaches using their system. Online Coach Training The Financial Clinic (https://thefinancialclinic. org) is an organization that offers various levels of training for financial coaches using their coaching platform, Change Machine. The Fi- nancial Clinic will work with an organization or institution prior to implementing the software to train coaches in its functionality and use. They will also provide ongoing training to coaches in the form of group sessions delivered through on- line workshops. The “Share” portion of their plat- form offers a forum for practitioners to exchange information and keep their skills updated.