Successful Campus-wide Campaigns for CashCourse & Financial Literacy
Promote CashCourse on campus and increase financial literacy among your student body! Check out how two CashCourse schools used a variety of promotional techniques to increase participation among campus.
Perhaps these success stories will inspire you to activate a promotion on your campus!
Oklahoma State University
Last fall, Oklahoma State University launched CashCourse with a campus-wide kick-off campaign. This effort reached students, families, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community. As part of the campaign, the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid:
- Distributed materials to the freshman welcome program
- Set up a CashCourse display board of various information from the CashCourse website
- Provided flyers for students to take as they registered for the welcome program
- Launched CashCourse in the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid
- Hung a banner in the center of the office
- Set up a “CashCourse station” that included a display board and flyers
- All counselors wore “Ask ME about CashCourse” buttons
- Counselors who met with visiting students and families gave information about CashCourse
- Provided information at the Career Services Job Fair
- Gave CashCourse/OSU financial literacy presentations to over 1000 students at freshman orientation classes
- Interviewed for an article on student debt and financial literacy, and placed an Empty Pockets CashCourse ad with the college newspaper
- Provided information on CashCourse for “OSU Headlines,” an email distributed to all faculty, staff, and students
- Submitted a press release about CashCourse was submitted to the Stillwater Journal and Stillwater New Press. The press release template is available for use in the administrative section of CashCourse
The Oklahoma State University Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid used the “Empty Pockets” template, available in the administrative section of CashCourse, for their newspaper ad and flyers at all events. Since their launch of CashCourse on August 1, 2009, OSU has had 2,254 visitors and 6,814 page views!!
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Similarly, the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis Office of Student Financial Aid Services promoted CashCourse campus-wide, resulting in 2,099 visitors and 6,253 page views since August 1, 2009. In order to get the word out about CashCourse, IUPUI:
- Designed and created a banner to move around on campus
- Posted a link to CashCourse directly from the homepage of their financial aid website
- Added a section regarding CashCourse to the presentations for first-year seminars, which specifically showcased the Budget Wizard
- Hosted sessions providing an overview of CashCourse and marketed them using:
- An information table regarding the event with CashCourse marketing materials in the Campus Center
- Table tents in the Campus Center’s food court
- A write-up in JagNews, which is IUPUI’s electronic newsletter
- E-mails to partners in Academic Advising, making them aware of CashCourse, their partnership, and the overview sessions
This spring, IUPUI is also planning to present CashCourse financial education workshops, also available in the administrative section of CashCourse, and is reaching out to other departments on campus such as Academic Advising and Residence Life.
Have you been successful at promoting CashCourse on your campus? Tell us about it, and maybe your campus can be featured in the next CashCourse Connection!
Young America Saves Campaign
America Saves is a social marketing campaign to encourage Americans to save money, reduce debt and build wealth. This national effort, which includes more than 400 national partners and thousands of local organizations in 35 states, encourages people to take positive financial action by committing to a savings goal.
The challenge with youth is to counter-balance the social pressures to buy the latest things. Young America Saves provides the bridge between financial education and the act of saving that leads to financial literacy.
Here’s how you can promote financial action:
- Encourage students to open or add money to an existing savings account with a commitment to save $20 -50 a month, every month.
- Encourage them to enroll as a Young America Saver at www.youngamericasaves.org.
The Young America Saves Resource Kit (youngamericasaves.org) includes materials to help motivate savings including: motivational presentation to encourage saving, sample letters and strategies to develop partnerships with financial institutions, and marketing material that can be used for America Saves Week.
Let’s take advantage of these economic times by having our youth learn the habit of saving!