Last Wednesday, Oct. 17, the Multicultural Services sponsored a workshop to teach students the basics of money management. MCS brought in guest speaker Gigi Hagen, the Washington region program manager of Wells Fargo, to help students better understand the importance of money management. The workshop was divided into two sessions, one starting at 11:30 a.m. and the other starting at 12:30 p.m. The workshops were held in C-120 A and B of Bellevue College.
According to Hagen, financial literacy is one of the most important issues that Wells Fargo is trying to address. During the workshop, Hagen also talked about why students need to prepare a spending plan, how students could protect their money and the importance of students to learn about the rules and regulations regarding student loans.
In the workshop, Hagen reminded students to always balance their checkbooks so they know how much money they spent and how much money they have left. Hagen talked to students about how to protect themselves from overdraft and bounced-check fees.
Hagen mentioned that two-thirds of college seniors graduated with loans in 2012, and they carried an average of $25,250. They are also the class with the highest unemployment levels for new college graduates in recent history. Student have to better manage their money or else they might end up with no income and high debt.
Kathy Colasurdo, one of the program coordinators and advisors at MCS said that she wants students to start thinking about how they spend their money now before it’s too late.
Colasurdo is bringing guest speaker to further educate students about the importance of money management and what is the best way to do so.“The main purpose of having this event at school is to teach students a life-long skill,” said Colasurdo.
Heidi Yota, Associated Student Government marketing and public relations representative heard about the event from her BC email and went to the workshop. Yota said that she’s glad that MCS put on such workshops because it enhances students’ learning process. “I’m currently taking my first accounting class and I wanted to learn more about the basics about money management,” said Yota.
Yota also added that she learned how the things that she learned in class applied to the real world. For example, credit and debit balances, balancing accounts and others. Currently, Hagen is in contact with the MCS at BC to open a math class as a continuing education program to teach students about financial planning.
Wells Fargo has a service called Hands on Banking, which teaches adults, young adults, teens and kids how to better manage their money. On a regular basis, the program covers topics such as how to budget, managing credits, saving for higher education, investing and others. This program usually lasts for 13 weeks. The “Managing You Money” workshop that was sponsored by MCS talked about only the basics of money management but not the whole information. To find out more about the Hands on Banking service, students can go to www.handsonbanking.org.