Presentation from the Entrepreneurial Librarian Conference, October 17, 2014, Wake Forest University.Lauren Reiter,Penn State University

1. Student Financial Education Center:
A Library/Student Startup for Financial
Literacy
Lauren Reiter, Business Liaison Librarian
Penn State University Libraries
Conference for Entrepreneurial Librarians
October 17, 2014

2. Startup
“Startups are organizations dedicated to creating
something new under conditions of extreme
uncertainty.”
From Think Like A Startup: a white paper to inspire library
entrepreneurialism, by Brian Matthews of Virginia Tech

3. Debt Comparison:
US Student Loan,
Credit Card, Auto
Loan, & Other Debt
Procon.org. (2013). US Student
Loan, Credit Card, Auto Loan, &
Other Debt, 2004-2013(in billions).
Retrieved from http://college-education.
procon.org/

4. Money Problems
 College students face a variety of financial issues
 Student loans
 Cost of college
 Tuition
 Textbooks
 Money management
 maintaining a budget
 handling first credit cardplanning for the future

5. Penn State
 A multi-campus institution—all one system
 24 campuses
 95,973 students, as of Fall 2014
 Largest campus is University Park
 46,606 students, as of Fall 2014

6. Financial Literacy
“The ability to use knowledge and skills to manage
one's financial resources effectively for lifetime
financial security."
Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.
National Standards in K–12 Personal Finance Education.

7. Financial Literacy at Penn State

8. Financial Literacy at Penn State:
MoneyCounts
Wilson Hutton, Public Relations and Marketing, Penn State University Libraries

9. Financial Literacy at Penn State:
Student Financial Education Center
 Student approached librarian with novel idea: a peer
to peer financial education program in the library
 Teach students to serve as Peer Financial Educators
 One-on-one assistance
 Presentations

10. Benefits of peer to peer
education
• More informal than classroom
instruction
• Relaxed and comfortable
atmosphere
• Easier to relate to fellow students
• Peer educators gain
communication and leadership
skills Wilson Hutton, Public Relations and
Marketing, Penn State University Libraries

11. Models at other universities
 New for libraries, not new elsewhere in higher ed
 Some examples
 Texas Tech University
 Kansas State University
 Ohio State University

12. Peer to Peer
Financial Education
and… the Library?
• We’ve never done this before
• Lack of financial literacy
expertise

13. Peer to Peer Financial Education and
the Library
 Student space
 High traffic area
 Other peer to peer models already in use in libraries
 Writing tutors
 Tech tutors
 Student reference assistants

14. Peer to Peer Financial Education and
the Library
 Established interest in financial literacy
 Reputation for reliability and objectivity
 Opportunity to incubate innovative student ideas

15. Student Financial
Education Center
(SFEC)
A partnership between
University Libraries &
University Park
Undergraduate Association
(UPUA)

16. Timeline
 April-August 2013: Planning
 August 2013-December 2013: Training and finalizing
documentation
 January 2014: Grand opening

17. Collaboration
 More partners needed than the 2 primary entities
 SFEC supported by faculty and staff in
 Commission for Adult Learners
 College of Agricultural Sciences
 Student Aid
 Student Affairs

18. Staffing
 Startup team consisted of six students
 One Student Director who works closely with SFEC
advisors and has position in UPUA government
 Members of Penn State Finance Society
 Working on a volunteer basis

19. Space
 Former conference room in business library office
suite transformed into SFEC
 Equipped with table, chairs, filing cabinets, laptop and
shredder
 Office hours limited to business library office hours

20. Personal Finance
Curriculum
12-hour training over 2 days
developed and led by Dr.
Daad Rizk and Dr. Cathy
Bowen
• Budgeting
• Credit
• Student loans
All Peer Educators required
to pass exam with score of
80% or higher
Money – Savings by 401(K) 2012 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

21. Education vs. Advice
 Training developed at request of Risk Management
office
 Designed and delivered by librarian/SFEC advisor
 Incorporated New York Public Library’s Money
Matter$ Pro Library Reference Scenarios

22. Risk Management
 Forms required by Risk Management office
 Student information form
 Biographical data
 Consent and release form
 Recognizes that Peer educator is not a licensed professional
 Will not hold liable
 Peer Educator Agreement for
 Protect student confidentiality & privacy
 Provide education not advice

23. Marketing & promotion
 Website
 Flyers
 Posters
 Social media
 Email announcements
 Ad in campus
newspaper
 Post on Onward State

24. SWOT Analysis
Strengths
 Support
 Space
 Students
Weaknesses
 Lack of experience
 Limitations of office hours
Opportunities
 There is a need
 Lack of competition
Threats
 Unknown demand
 Alternative sources for
information

25. Grand Opening
 Created Financial Education Week in January 2014
 Grand opening reception
 Three presentations by SFEC Advisors and Peer
Educators
 Tables in student union for SFEC info distribution and
appointment sign up

26. Assess and Adjust
Issues
No-shows for
appointments
Original training
program incompatible
with schedules
Revisions
Reminders sent to students
the day prior
New training program
implemented that spreads
learning over a semester

27. Student Engagement
 Hard to maintain when business is slow
 Return to reasons why Peer Educators joined
 To learn
 To help others learn
 To build skills and resume
 To be a part of something from the beginning

28. Outreach Activities
 Increase number of presentations to increase number
of appointments
 Parents & Families Weekend
 Lion Ambassadors
 Other student organizations
 First year seminars

29. Collaborate and Partner
 MoneyCounts: A Financial Literacy Series
 Promote
 Co-present

30. Growth
 Currently have 9 Peer Educators
 Staffing and space meets needs…for now
 Have done tweaks to adjust to the unexpected but
need overall program evaluation

31. Questions?

32. Thank you!
Lauren Reiter
Business Liaison Librarian
Penn State University Libraries
lmr29@psu.edu