Spartan Transfer Hub | Budget Like a Spartan!

This conversation emphasizes the importance of financial literacy as a foundation for success. It discusses the significance of budgeting, managing credit and debt, and the necessity of setting financial goals to achieve desired outcomes. Don't forget to attend the event today, November 4th to learn more!

Creators and Guests

Host

Siddhi Choubey

Siddhi Choubey is the current Host, Producer, Editor, Composer, and Designer of Spartan Transfer Hub.

What is Spartan Transfer Hub ?

Spartan Transfer Hub is a podcast for transfer students at Michigan State University, and beyond, brought to you by the Transfer Student Success Center (TSSC).

Each episode features conversations with MSU staff, faculty, and fellow students, highlighting key resources, programs, tips and individual stories to help you navigate your transfer journey. From academic support to campus involvement, Spartan Transfer Hub connects you to the tools and people that make a difference.

Find us on Impact89fm.org, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more!
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/msutransfersuccess
Website: https://spartantransferhub.transistor.fm

Siddhi: 00:01

You're listening to the Spartan Transfer Hub brought to you by MSU Transfer Student Success Center and Impact eighty nine FM.

Siddhi: 00:09

Here's what we've got for you today. Welcome to season two of the Spartan Transfer Hub podcast brought to you by Impact eighty nine FM and the MSU Transfer Student Success Center. We are back for another episode all about the transfer student experience here at Michigan State. If you're new, this podcast is where we share stories, answer your questions, and talk all things related to MSU transfer students. I'm your host, Siti Chawbe, and I identify with sheher pronouns.

Siddhi: 00:35

I'm a senior majoring in journalism and communication with minors in broadcast journalism, public relations, and business, and I'm so excited to be back with you for another episode. Today, I'm not alone. I'm joined by some incredible guests who are doing amazing work supporting student financial literacy here at MSU. Would you all like to introduce yourselves? Sure.

Erica: 00:57

My name is Doctor. Erica Toby. I'm an assistant professor with Human Development and Family Studies and also an extension specialist with Michigan State University Extension.

Ryan: 01:07

Name is Ryan Labarge. I'm a financial educator with Michigan State University Federal Credit Union.

Holly: 01:13

I'm Holly Flynn. I'm the Head of Outreach and Engagement here at MSU Libraries.

Ashley: 01:18

I'm Ashley Hewlett Lemke, the Program Coordinator for the Transfer Student Success Center. Thank you all

Siddhi: 01:24

for sharing. I'm really excited for today's conversation because I think talking about your finances in college is a big topic that sometimes people will avoid or not have the right guidance. So I'm really excited about this episode. But before we jump in, let's start with a fun icebreaker. What's a tip that you can give college students to save money?

Erica: 01:45

Yeah, I can go first. So I think, you know, we have a lot of different tips that we could probably share. But one thing I would say is don't be afraid to make mistakes in saving money, right? Anything you do, to try to kind of start to save, that is really what the goal is. So try different approaches, try whatever's going to work for you.

Erica: 02:05

And if something doesn't work, try again, right? I think sometimes we always feel like there's a specific plan or a recipe that you have to follow. And really, just trying one thing, I think sometimes can really be, a huge benefit.

Ryan: 02:20

I think the major thing for me would be be proactive with your finances. As you talked about in the beginning, lot of people avoid it. As opposed to being reactive, be proactive. So if you're in a situation where you might need help, make that phone call. Ask for the help.

Ryan: 02:33

Have those conversations with your peers, with your family, with your professors. Utilize those resources to get in the best possible financial situation that you can, as opposed to letting it go bad and then going to that reactive side where you're like, oh, no. Be proactive before it gets to that situation.

Holly: 02:48

Mhmm. So I would say, utilize your library. Did you know that we have textbooks for over a thousand MSU courses? So we can save you a lot of money that way. Yeah.

Ashley: 03:00

Pro tip right there. I I just I wanna build off of kind of proactive. Save a little bit of money. Like if you're, you know, working a job part time, a little bit. Kind of my life, my moment was I had a little housing situation that it was like, dude, this is not going to work.

Ashley: 03:19

I had to come up with some money real quick, real fast to do the security deposit. I didn't have it. So I had to tap into other. Luckily, I'm privileged enough to be able to tap into other family resources, but that was kind of an moment for me of just like, save a little bit. So you got a chunk for a rainy day.

Ryan: 03:36

Yeah. And I think to, food delivery services right now with college students, like if you're paying $20 for that $5 sandwich, you know, you can definitely save some money by avoiding those.

Ashley: 03:46

Can make a lot of sandwiches for $25.

Erica: 03:50

You know, it's funny. I always tell students, so I teach a personal finance class and a lot of times students think they have to save a lot of money to be able to start to save. And so it's all about just building that habit and starting to build that very Even while you're in college. So even thinking like $5 a month, even if you can just set aside $5 a month, putting that in some type of an account, it'll allow you to earn interest and it'll allow you to grow your money. Even just starting small now, because when you have more resources, so hopefully when you graduate, you're going have a larger paycheck, then you've actually already built that savings habit so that you can add the additional resources to that.

Erica: 04:28

Really starting now, even if it's small, building on what Ashley said, I think that's really helpful just to kind of start that pattern.

Ryan: 04:34

Yeah, those small goals lead to bigger goals. You got A lot of time people see the big number with finances. They're like, Hey, I'm going save thousands of dollars. But if you start with those little transactions, like Erica was talking about, whether it be ten, fifteen, whatever you can really put into your savings, that'll build over time and that habit will be instilled for sure.

Siddhi: 04:51

Got it. Amazing. So I want to jump right into the questions because I thought those are some great tips. What is Go for the Green?

Erica: 05:02

So Go for the Green is just a collaborative team on campus. It's made up of a variety of different partner organizations. And really the whole goal is just to promote financial education for undergraduate students on this campus. And so some of the things that we do, we do a lot of free events. We'll go out and speak to groups about various financial topics such as budgeting or credit, but we also do a big event each semester.

Erica: 05:28

So our next event that we have coming up is on November 4 from six to 8PM. Students can stop by at any point during that two hour timeframe, and really come and have fun and participate with some free financial education resources, as well as this year, we're actually gonna be promoting free events on campus as well. So lots of free resources that you can learn, again, to start to save that money a little bit at a time. But some of the departments that we have as a part of our group, the Transfer Student Success Center has been a great partner, MSU Libraries, they're actually the host for our event, MSU FCU, as well as MSU Extension, Human Development and Family Studies. So just a variety of MSU Financial Aid as well.

Erica: 06:10

I don't forget them. The other really cool thing about our event is that we actually are going to be offering 400 or $500 scholarships as a part of the event. Students that are be able to attend are actually going to be eligible. You just have to complete that survey as a part of the participation of the event, and you could be eligible to walk away with some money. So short investment of time, and hopefully leave with some additional dollars as well.

Siddhi: 06:35

Can you each share a little bit specifically about your roles and how you support students?

Ryan: 06:41

Yeah, so in my role as a financial educator, I do a variety of presentations on campus for different student organizations and groups, really prioritizing basic financial topics such as budgeting, credit, investing. All these different topics go into your financial wellness, and our goal is to put MSU students in the best financial situation possible. And it all starts with that budget, then looking at all the fun things you can do with your money afterwards. But it's really cool to be able to go into different classrooms and talk to students about it or different groups, talking to RBCs, so the residential business community, as well as going into our HDFS classes. I've worked with like sororities.

Ryan: 07:22

I've done it all really. So I talked to a variety of different people and giving them that information is something that I really wish I had when I was growing up. So it's really awesome to see the shift from not having financial literacy or education to prioritizing it, whether it be in the college level or the high school level. And even at MSUFC, we are in the elementary schools as well, teaching financial education. So we're all over the place.

Ryan: 07:45

Some of my days look like, Hey, I'm singing a song about coins to elementary students. Then I'm doing a lunch and learn at MSU. So a lot of different places that we're at with our financial education.

Erica: 07:57

Yeah. So in human development and family studies, we have a couple courses that are focused around personal finance. So we have HDFS 138, which is an introduction of financial literacy. That's for freshmen and sophomores, and that's always offered in the fall, and it's really aimed at trying to promote financial education while students are in college at MSU. We also have HDFS two thirty eight.

Erica: 08:19

That is our Introduction of Personal Finance. That's a very robust class, all the way going from the basics of goal setting and budgeting and credit, all the way to talking about investing and retirement, buying a house, doing your taxes. Everything you need to know, and it's really focused around financial education for students when they graduate from MSU and they're going to start that first career. We even look at job offers and really talk about how to maximize those opportunities. And then we also have within HDFS in the College of Social Science, we have an applied financial literacy minor, and that minor is really focused on students who might be interested in thinking about financial education in some form or facet as a part of a potential career.

Erica: 09:01

And so as a part of that, also teach HDFS four thirty eight, which is our applied financial literacy capstone course. And so that is, again, it's for College of Social Science students, but really focused around how they can see financial education in an applied environment, which is pretty cool.

Holly: 09:17

So in the libraries, I do outreach. So that's a lot of orientations, especially for first and second year students. I work a lot with the first gen students and transfer students and lots of other groups on campus, including pre college students. So we have do lots of tours for eighth graders and high school students. And we do lots of fun events in the library as well besides go for the green.

Holly: 09:40

We also have lots of free workshops you can take, free crafting events. We have finals week events as the library gets busier and busier this time of year with people studying for the end of the semester. And I also work at the reference desk. So for students who need help with, research and writing assignments, they come to the reference desk either in person or we have one online as well, and they can get help that way with our databases and books. Awesome.

Holly: 10:10

Why is financial literacy important?

Erica: 10:13

Well, financial literacy is really the foundation, right? It's really thinking about how do you set yourself up for success, and really thinking about all facets. So if it is thinking about developing that budget, when we think about having that good foundation, that's really what we're talking about. And so it's really thinking about how to manage your credit and debt wisely, how to have that effective budget, how to set goals, right? I oftentimes say, not having goals, it's really just a wish without a plan, right?

Erica: 10:45

And we want to be able to really set your foundation up for success. So when we think about kind of that importance, it's really building that successful foundation. And for students that are going to be graduating, they're going through so many different life changes, and really even thinking about life after college as well, we want to have you set up for success so that you can really hit the ground running as you leave MSU and become alums in the future.

Ryan: 11:09

Yeah, just piggybacking off of that, it's the fundamental building blocks of your finances, so understanding the basics like budgeting and credit and how to utilize them. I mean, we see a lot of folks struggle with just credit card debt and things of that nature. So my goal is to help people avoid that. Right? My goal is to put them in the best situation by understanding interest rates, understanding making your payments, understanding how to build that budget, and when you get a loan, how does that fit into your budget?

Ryan: 11:35

Right? We talk about approved for versus affordable. These are all things you need to consider when we're thinking about what goes into our budget, but also how we utilize our finances. And that's the basics of financial literacy is putting those blocks together, those puzzle pieces, so that we can make the big picture and end up in a good spot overall. And it goes back to what I said before.

Ryan: 11:57

It's like, I wish I woulda had this when I was growing up because I did make a lot of mistakes with money, and I paid those repercussions, and I paid extra money that I didn't have to when I coulda put in savings and made my own money that way. And those are just things to consider, and that's what we really pride ourselves on, is putting our students in the best financial situation possible.

Siddhi: 12:15

Is there anything else that you would like to add maybe about the event or anything else that I haven't asked you already?

Erica: 12:24

I would just say come to the Go for the Green event. We're going to have this event on Tuesday, November 4, from six to 8PM. Again, you can stop by any time between that six and eight time period, so you don't have to be there right at 06:00 to be able to participate, About twenty to thirty minutes of your time. And again, you can get some great information, lots of resources from some wonderful departments on campus, as well as just giving some good tips, exactly like Ryan said, on budgeting and credit, talking about loans. We really just want to give you as much information as we can.

Erica: 12:56

And again, we're going to have refreshments. We have these scholarships that's been made possible through a grant from MSUFCU. So we want to thank them as well, But just really appreciate and really welcome y'all to the event.

Ryan: 13:09

Yeah, absolutely. It's gonna be a fun event. Take a little study break, come out, enjoy the free services that we have, the refreshments. It'll be a great time.

Erica: 13:18

Yep. So it's the main library, Fourth Floor West in the Green Room from six to 8PM on November 4.

Siddhi: 13:25

Awesome. That wraps up this episode of the Spartan Transfer Hub. A huge thank you to all of you for joining me today and sharing your insights and some of these resources and advice, I'm personally really excited for this event too. And to all of our Transfer Spartans listening, remember, taking care of your money is also a form of self care. You belong here and you have incredible resources to help you thrive, so make sure you use them.

Siddhi: 13:51

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to tune in on the Impact eighty nine FM website, Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Until next time, keep showing up, keep growing and keep making MSU your home. Go green, go white. Thanks for tuning in to the Spartan Transfer Hub brought to

Siddhi: 14:07

you by Impact eighty nine FM and the

Siddhi: 14:09

Transfer Student Success Center. See you next time.