Building a Solid Financial Wellness Foundation

Just as students take care of their physical health by exercising and eating healthy, they must take care of their financial wellness by being proactive regarding their spending and saving. We can evaluate a student’s financial wellness by examining the relationship they have with their money. Students that have a good financial well-being have successfully managed their finances consistently over time.  

Creating a web page on your institutions’ website is a good way to get financial wellness tips to your students. For example, University of California, Davis, has an educational web page devoted to student financial wellness. The institution points out five important financial wellness tips: 

1. Don’t put it off – identify and address any financial problems before they start 
2. Keep organized records of your finances 
3. Take advantage of student discounts 
4. Plan ahead and set budget goals 
5. Balance your other dimensions of wellness, they all tie into financial wellness as well 

Students that invest in their financial wellness today will be more successful in achieving their future goals.  

Establishing financial goals is the first step in creating a positive relationship between the student and their money. Not clarifying the goal a student has for their money is like going to class without the end goal of graduating. In other words, one may say it would be pointless to go to class if the goal wasn’t to obtain a college degree. This can be related to finances because if the student doesn’t have a specific goal, then it is hard to stay on track. Students that are financially fit can expect to see more positives throughout their lives. Three long-term benefits of maintaining a good financial well-being are:  

• Improved overall quality of life 
• Reduction in stress 
• Having a more positive impact on their family, friends, and institution 

Ultimately, financial wellness contributes to bettering the quality of the student’s lives. Having an active process of making responsible budgeting decisions will build and maintain a fulfilling and healthy lifestyle. Nelnet has an entire web page filled with resources that can be provided to students to help them get financially fit. Students that have success with their finances will find it motivating to continue this type of relationship with their money. This would result in the students having an overall high morale.  

The process of obtaining a college degree already has its own stressful factors. When balancing finances is added on top of that, things can get rocky. Students that have a good financial well-being, by consistently budgeting and saving, don’t have to stress about their money. They can be confident about their finances because they have developed an appropriate spending behavior. Assignment deadlines and other commitments produce enough stress for your students. Provide them with Nelnet’s nine tips to achieving financial wellness so their finance stress factor is solved.  

Your student’s financial well-being touches many more people than just them. If a student is financially prepared and successful, they will be able to devote more time and efforts to their studies. A student that is drowning in debt may be in class physically, but mentally out of it because of the stressful impact money can have on an individual. Being financially fit allows students to be present in any situation instead of constantly thinking about how they are going to afford the next thing they need. Family and friends will notice a happy, attentive student after they establish good financial wellness.