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Nervous about starting at Michigan State? Worried about your class schedule, living away from home, or where to even start? The Spartan Orientation Station (SOS) is a podcast hosted by New Student Orientation staff and was created by students for students. This podcast will launch twice a week throughout the summer, and each episode will feature a unique interview with campus departments discussing their services, common misconceptions, and fun Spartan engagement opportunities. When you need help at Michigan State, it is okay to signal SOS! Don’t worry – MSU is there for you.
You're listening to the Spartan Orientation Station on Impact eighty nine FM, the podcast by students for students. Now this week's episode.
Karla C.:Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Spartan Orientation Station. I am your graduate assistant, Karla Cortez. I work here for the NSO office, and today we're gonna talking a little bit about the Go for the Green Initiative. Here with me is my co host.
Aniyah T.:Aniyah Thompson. I'm a student coordinator with the New Storm Orientation Office.
Karla C.:And our lovely guests.
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:Yes, I'm Doctor. Amanda Guinot Talbot. I work in the Human Development and Family Studies Department as the undergraduate director there. I also am the director of the Women's Leadership Institute. And what I'm here today to talk about is Go for the Green.
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:I'm part of that fabulous team.
Dr. Erica Tobe:Hi, everybody. My name is Doctor. Erica Tobe. I'm also an assistant professor in Human Development and Family Studies, and I teach a couple of personal finance and applied financial literacy class, so HDFS two thirty eight and HDFS four thirty eight. I also work for MSU Extension as an extension specialist with our financial and homeownership education team.
Ryan LaBarge:And I am Ryan LaBarge. I'm a financial education specialist with MSUFCU, but we are very tied to our Go for the Green partnership here.
Aniyah T.:Thank you guys so much for coming. So just to kick this off, can you tell us what exactly is Go for the Green for the students?
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:Go for the Green is an initiative that is for all MSU students. We have partnerships all across campus. So we have MSU FCU, our off campus partner. We have the library system. We have financial aid.
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:There are so many places, extension, and my colleagues will probably fill in some of the others that I missed. But we have a great group that has as its mission to bring financial education to as many or all MSU students as possible. And to do that, we have fabulous coursework like Doctor. Toby talked about. So we have in the classroom training, and then out of the classroom, we do workshops, we do resource fairs every fall and spring.
Dr. Erica Tobe:And one of the things that's really cool about our resource fairs is we do offer, typically try to offer scholarships at these resource fairs as well. So students that do come, and usually this is in the fall and the spring semester, but students that do attend the session, they can not only learn some information, but then also potentially walk away with some scholarships, which is pretty cool.
Aniyah T.:Okay, thank you. So you talked about them learning some information. Can you talk about like what are some of the financial resources available to students here at MSU?
Ryan LaBarge:Yeah. So one of the big one that MSUFCU provides is Financial four point o, which can be found on the App Store. But it's great because it offers a variety of different things like blogs, quizzes. I do weekly webinars during the semester. We do over 10 sessions on a variety of different topics like credit, investing, budgeting.
Ryan LaBarge:So all the tools that you need, and that's that's free for our MSU students to attend to whether they are a member or not a member. So it's a great opportunity to utilize for your resources to get you going towards that financial journey that you're striving for.
Dr. Erica Tobe:And then we also mentioned a little bit about our event that we do every fall and spring, that Go for the Green Financial Resource Fair. What this also does is this also has opportunity for students to engage with lots of different partners on campus, find out about free resources, get a little bit of information, and also try to hopefully get a scholarship, which is a wonderful opportunity. We also have classes that we offer, credit classes. So HDFS two thirty eight Personal Finance is offered fall, spring, and summer. And that's a great overview of just learning everything you need to know about personal finance, anywhere from budgeting to credit, learning about investing, thinking about retirement.
Dr. Erica Tobe:All of the fun things that you need to know as a student and even beyond. We also have HDFS 138, which is great for students that are gonna be freshmen and sophomores. That's really for thinking about personal finance while you're at MSU. And then we also have, again, HDFS four thirty eight as well, which is for within our minor in College of Social Science. That's an applied, lots of different opportunities.
Dr. Erica Tobe:And then one of our other partners is Office of Financial Aid and they have a wonderful scholarship database where students can access any potential MSU scholarships as well as outside scholarships. And again, anytime you can get some scholarships, that just saves you more money down the road.
Aniyah T.:Okay. And then our next question is, as you mentioned, a lot of students are on scholarships and then the Office of Financial Aid also has them dealing with their loans from the government and things like that. How do you recommend students manage and budget that money appropriately when it's like a scholarship versus a loan or even trying to handle both at the same time?
Dr. Erica Tobe:Yeah, that's a great question. I think the biggest thing is really to see what you actually need, and making sure that you're not taking out more than you actually need. Sometimes that refund is really nice, but just understanding you're going have to pay that back with interest, which definitely becomes a barrier down the road. So really identifying what you're going to need and what that might look like. The other big thing is if you do access scholarships and you have loans, sometimes those scholarships can affect your financial aid.
Dr. Erica Tobe:And actually, you may not actually get that as cash. It may actually just reduce that loan down. So checking with the Office of Financial Aid any time that you do get access to scholarships to make sure that you understand how that is going to affect your aid, if it is going to affect your aid, and what that looks like. And then the other thing to really do is just to make sure and look at what are those repayment options. So either if you fall less than half time over a six month period, or after you graduate, or even after you're out of school for six months, that's when those loans are going to start.
Dr. Erica Tobe:And so you want to make sure you understand what that potential repayment plan is going to be, and really have an idea of when you're going to have to start making those payments, and really being proactive about that. You can always start to pay down some of that amount while you're in school and even paying down interest, especially if it's an unsubsidized loan and that interest does start accruing right away. So trying to pay down interest, if you have the ability to do so, will just allow you to pay less down the road when you start to make those payments.
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:You know, and I would add to that, just when it comes to scholarships, your federal loans or private loans, whatever it is, you're not alone, right? So we have resources and help here on campus. Doctor. Tobey mentioned the Office of Financial Aid is a phenomenal partner and resource. And then I would say come to our Go for the Green events.
Ryan LaBarge:Yes.
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:Because every event that we do, we make sure that we always have the core sort of financial literacy, savings, credit, budgeting, student loans, and scholarships. We cover that every single time while we change the theme, we give students what we think that they need in the moment or what they're asking for, we always have that, really important financial, information. So come because you'll be supported.
Ryan LaBarge:And even with scholarships, a little bit goes a long way. Right? We do this event and we give out $500 scholarships. Right? But with that, that goes towards your overall total cost of school.
Ryan LaBarge:Right? So even looking around at other options, I think when people look at scholarships, they're looking at a scholarship that pays for the complete cost, but you can add those up and stack them and take down that total cost of school that way as well.
Dr. Erica Tobe:The only other thing I would say about scholarships is definitely apply. I know a lot of students don't often apply because they think there's somebody else that's better out there. And maybe, you know, I might not have that advantage. But departments and at the university level, there are a variety of different pockets of money. And sometimes we're trying to find that very unique person that fits that scholarship.
Dr. Erica Tobe:It may have been a donor along the line that really cared about a particular issue. And so a lot of times, we're trying to find that right person. So we often say, it doesn't ever hurt to apply. You never know when you might be able to get some additional dollars. And sometimes people think, oh, my grades aren't good enough, or things like that.
Dr. Erica Tobe:Don't even think about that. Just always apply, you never know what money might be out there for you.
Aniyah T.:Okay, thank you for that. As we were talking, obviously we were just talking about budgets with scholarships and loans and all that jazz. But how would you recommend students prepare a personal budget when they're, especially at an interesting time where they're not quite able to like work full time all the time, or they might be working part time or not at all for some of the semester, but they might work on breaks and stuff.
Ryan LaBarge:Yeah. I think the biggest part with a budget is taking that first step. I think there's a lot of anxiety that's tied to money, and it's hard to look at, and we don't wanna look at it, we try to avoid it. So my biggest thing would be proactive with your finance, creating that budget by writing it down. I'm a big proponent of saying, hey, we start with a pen and paper, look at our transactions, see how much money we have, but also see what's going out as well.
Ryan LaBarge:A lot of us look at our our transactions and we might know our balance that's in our account, but we're not going through a month by month basis. So looking at our income, how much money do we have in coming up a plan that way is is a great opportunity to say, hey, I have this much money. This is where my expenses are going, and this is where I need to end up at the end of the semester. But also to looking at, you know, maybe some unexpected expenses that might arise when you're first coming on campus as well because there's a lot of additional expenses that you may not be considering. So being proactive thinking about it before you even get on campus, starting with that budget, writing it down, or using an app, whatever works for you.
Ryan LaBarge:Unfortunately, with finances, there's not a one size fits all, which I wish I could be like, hey, do this. Your finances will be great. But sometimes it's trial and error in finding out what works for you. So I would highly recommend just being proactive and looking at it and saying, hey, this is where I want to be at the end of the semester with my finances, or this is where my comfortability lies if I spend this amount month for month.
Dr. Erica Tobe:The other thing I would say is that just realize this is something that you can keep redoing and keep kind of figuring out what's gonna work for you. Because a lot of times people think, okay, I developed a budget and I'm all done. And that's not really how it works, right? You wanna do it and you wanna keep revising it and really make sure that it's gonna work for you down the line. And especially if this is the first time that you're living away, know, may be some costs that you have that you haven't experienced before.
Dr. Erica Tobe:And so again, just giving yourself a little bit of grace to be able to figure out what that might be and continue to revise it as you go.
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:Yeah, and I would just give a shout out back to Go For The Green to our events. We cover some of this. And to HDFS 138 and February, which is gonna actually force you to start tracking and to get some practice with budgeting models like the fiftythirtytwenty and things like that. So again, resources on campus, we can help.
Aniyah T.:Okay, and now our last question is, and probably the biggest one, what is the number one financial tip you recommend for these students?
Ryan LaBarge:I mean, I have kind of already said this, but be proactive with your finances. I think oftentimes we put it at the back burner and say, hey. I worry about that later down the road. But being proactive and thinking about your finances before something bad happens, like building an emergency savings is a fantastic idea because a lot of us aren't thinking about an emergency that pops up and we think about how we're going to cover that expense when it does. So thinking about it proactively saying this may happen, but creating that habit of savings is going to go a long way towards your overall goals.
Ryan LaBarge:So embedded in that proactive thinking is creating long term habits by thinking, hey, there could be an emergency expense in the future. I'm gonna build that savings account up in case there's emergency, but I'm also building my savings up for the future as well by creating that habit.
Dr. Erica Tobe:Yeah, you know, have lots of different tips I could say. The one biggest thing I would say though is, and I don't know if this is really a financial tip, but more of just a life tip at MSU, but there's so many resources on campus. You know, we talk about the Go for the Green to kind of get some additional information. A lot of times we don't give templates and resources, and you have access to different people. We have so many different people on campus that are willing to help.
Dr. Erica Tobe:So even just our Go for the Green team, we have a Transfer Student Success Center, we have the Office of Financial Aid, we have the library system, MSU Extension, Human Development and Family Studies. So many different people that care about this particular topic. But just, you know, really just reaching out and tap into some of the resources here because I, you know, there's just so many different resources that are willing to assist you.
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:My piece of advice, I think, would be, you know, just to get in the game, right? So like Ryan said, I think we put it on the back burner. We say, I'll do that when I have money, when I grow up, when, and we fill it in with all kinds of different excuses, but get in the game, meaning start to track, start to practice with budgeting, take a course, find resources like Doctor. Toby was mentioning, you know, set some goals, short, intermediate, long term, start to work towards those. It's really, it's building muscles, right?
Dr. Amanda Guinot Talbot:Habits and things. So when we force ourselves to get in, even if we're saving, you know, by rounding up our purchases, you're in the game now. And you can really be amazed, you know, how those habits are gonna build and where you could go once you start.
Aniyah T.:Okay, that's all the questions we have for you guys today. Thank you guys so much for coming. I know it'll be really useful for these incoming students. And that was Go For The Green.
Karla C.:Yeah, thank you so much for joining us today. I certainly learned a lot more too. I think one of the biggest things for me coming in as a student was realizing how the earlier you start, the better it is. So having those initiatives as soon as people come here, it's super beneficial, I can say, for later down the road. So once again, thank you so much for joining us today and yeah, go for the green.
Narrator:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Spartan Orientation Station on Impact89 FM. FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram MSU underscore NSO.