UCD Access & Lifelong Learning Money Management Guide

Main idea

Outline

UCD Access & Lifelong Learning developed a money management guide to support students with financial planning when coming to university. 

This support was developed after running focus groups with students on how they could better manage their money. They advised that a resource outlining the below would be helpful: 

• The costs of attending university 
• Information on financial supports including grants, scholarships and bursaries 
• Resources to help with financial planning i.e. budgets, spending trackers, meal planners, useful app’s, Frequently Asked Question section etc
• Advice from current  students sharing their experiences with financial planning
• External services that could provide additional supports 
• List of the supermarkets near the campus

This guide supplements the money management webpage which has tips and resources to help students to plan ahead and be more strategic when it comes to their financial expectations. It gives them the tools they need to set realistic goals in terms of their finances and to give them the resources they need to help manage their money. 

The guide is available in a  physical and /or digital format that can be shared with students when they get their course offer and at orientation. 

The guide book was developed by researching current cost of living guides,  good practices at other institutions, looking at existing resources from Australia, the UK and Ireland but with a UCD context in mind.

Goals

• To develop students’ money management skills and to raise awareness of the costs involved in coming to College. 
• To raise awareness of the financial supports in place to ensure that we reach students that are most in need 
• To ensure that prospective students are aware of these supports and can successfully budget for their college year
• To develop autonomy in students’ ability to financially plan and budget for their time in College

Obstacles targetted:

• Economic obstacles

Students involvement

• Students are asked for their feedback on the money management guide after the ALL welcome through feedback forms and focus groups. 
• Students were also invited to a focus groups which discussed the content of the Money Management Guide
• We have taken this feedback on board and incorporated it into new editions of the guidebook, for e.g. we changed the font colour and used real photos of students in the most up to date money management guide.

Inspiration and evidence

It has been identified that finances, or the lack of finances, is a particular barrier for students that are deemed to be under-represented in university. The guidebook was developed from student feedback advising that they did not know what financial supports were available and to have it all available in one resource would be more accessible.

Success criteria

• The support is practical and contributes to a student’s lifelong learning skills 
• We are trying to ensure that the message and resources  around money management and financial support gets to students as early and as often as possible.

Effectiveness

• Track the number of students that apply for scholarships 
• Track the number of students that attend workshops & information sessions 
• Track the retention of access students
• Track students’ perception of the effectiveness of the money management guide

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

agree

Evaluation

We seek feedback from students through feedback forms after orientation and by conducting focus groups to seek students perception/feedback on the usefulness of the money management guide and how it might be improved.

Communication

• Social media 
• Direct emails
• Website 
• Dedicated information sessions on managing finances
• ALL Welcome
• Support personnel

Timing

Ideally the resource is circulated with the invitations  to the UCD ALL Welcome and Orientation Programme and is also available at the ALL Welcome.

Resources

• Staff to provide 1 to 1 support to develop a money management guide that is relevant to the Universities context. 
• Administrative support 
• Promotional material 
• Ring fenced funding to pay for resources for e.g. designing and printing a money management guide. 

Extra information

• UCD Access and Lifelong Learning Money Management Guide

The money management guide is easily transferable as long as you have designated staff to develop it and adapt it to your context.