Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Dana Bekurs: This podcast is produced by members of the University of Alabama Parent Advisory Council and reflects the personal views, experiences, and opinions of the hosts and guests. These views are independent and do not represent, reflect, or speak on behalf of the University of Alabama, its administration, faculty, staff, or affiliated organizations. The content shared is for general informational and conversational purposes only. It is not intended to provide academic, medical, legal, financial, or institutional advice. While we aim to share thoughtful and helpful perspectives, we make no guarantees regarding accuracy, completeness, or timeliness. Listeners are encouraged to verify information independently and rely on official University of Alabama communications for policies, decisions, and guidance. Listening to this podcast is voluntary and any actions taken based on the content are done at your own discretion and risk.
Welcome to Parent Perspectives. Navigating the University of Alabama experience as a parent can be exciting, overwhelming, and full of questions. And you don't have to do it alone. Parent Perspectives is a podcast by parents, for parents and with parents created to share real conversations, trusted insights, and firsthand experiences from those who've been there. Whether your student is BAMA bound, settling into freshman year, or finding their stride on campus, this is your go to source for all things Bama student related. From academics in campus life to traditions and the moments that matter most, we cover what parents want to know honestly and thoughtfully. Tune in and feel confident knowing you're part of a supportive BAMA parent community.
[00:01:51] Bryan Johnson: Welcome to the UA Parent Prospectus Podcast. One of the greatest gifts we can give our students before they graduate isn't just a degree. It's the confidence to manage their money well. For many students, college is the first time they're making independent financial decisions. From budgeting and spending to managing credit and planning for unexpected expenses, the habits they build now can shape their financial future for years to come.
Today, we're talking about financial health, practical budgeting strategies, and how parents can encourage healthy financial habits while allowing students to take ownership of their financial decisions. Before we jump into today's conversation, let's meet our guest. Brandon. Can can you introduce yourself and tell us about your role at the University of Alabama and how you work with students to improve their financial wellness?
[00:02:42] Brendan Roszman: Yeah. First off, thank you so much for having me on and let me speak about this topic.
But yeah, my name is Brendan Rosman. I am a health promotion specialist in the Department of Health Promotion and Wellness here at ua.
My programming areas are general wellness and Financial wellness.
With Financial Wellness, I go into classrooms and do a lot of presentations.
I do workshops on budgeting credit savings for students.
I helped create a peer financial coaching program where students can get one on one coaching with their fellow peers.
I also bring in external partners to do financial wellness presentations such as JPMorgan Chase, Alabama Credit Union. So a lot of fun stuff going on. And financial wellness is definitely something that people want to learn about, students want to learn about. So very, very blessed to be able to be in this position.
A little bit more about me. I'm from Ohio, actually, born and raised. So this will be my third academic year at UA and couldn't be more excited for it.
[00:03:53] Bryan Johnson: All right, great. Thank you. Well, let's start talking about what financial health really means. When we hear that term financial health. What does it actually mean? What does healthy financial management look like for a college student? Or what are some of the most common financial challenges students face during their first year on campus?
[00:04:12] Brendan Roszman: Yeah, when you think about financial health, I like to describe it to students as their habits, behaviors, actions, or knowledge pertaining to finances.
And what a healthy financial outlook would look like for students in my eyes would be mainly just like trying new things to learn about finances, get their feet wet, start actually thinking about where their money is going on a day to day, week to week basis.
And I would say, you know, major challenges or at least little challenges for students coming into their first year would be, you know, with. With a lot of topics and a lot of subjects. For these first year students, it's, it's, it's really the first time. Living away from friends or family for the first time. And for the majority of the students, maybe their parents or those family members handled the money for them and they really don't have to think about spending a lot. Maybe it was just more for fun versus real life action. So that can be a big challenge. And also just trying or maybe feeling nervous about learning about these topics. It can feel overwhelming just with everything they have going on, trying to make friends, trying to learn how to live in college.
So understandably, it can be kind of a lot.
But here at UA and here in my department, we try to make that a little bit easier for them.
[00:05:45] Bryan Johnson: Okay, thank you.
I've got three questions about making financial plans for students.
First, should college students really be budgeting? For someone who's never created a budget before, what are some simple first steps they can take? And what are some budgeting habits that help students succeed? And what are some common mistakes or financial pitfalls they should try to avoid?
[00:06:09] Brendan Roszman: Yeah, first off, absolutely, students should at least practice budgeting when they have some free time. You know, I always tell students that, you know, the semester can seem very busy and Very fast and a lot of things going on.
So maybe if you want to practice budgeting, practice it over a break, over winter break, or over summer break before you get into the swing of things in classes.
Some some starting tips for students to get started.
I always just tell them just to try it out. It doesn't have to look fancy, it doesn't have to be on a really crazy app or anything. I always tell students to get a pen or paper, do it on their laptop or iPad or phone. Just track their spending for a day or maybe even a week. And once they start doing that, it kind of gets their mind rolling trying to think about where their money is going. And then they can start thinking about different, different areas of budgeting and do's and don'ts. For budgeting, I always say for the do's start small.
It doesn't have to be your entire semester or entire year to start out with. Like I said, starting out with tracking daily or weekly habits is something that can be very, very good for the students.
And something I also say is understand that your first budget won't be your last budget. Budgets are never ever set in stone and it should be viewed as a, as a win that you're even trying to do it.
So even if it doesn't look great the first time around, it's still really amazing that they're trying to practice it.
And also give yourself some flexibility.
Some months, some, some weeks are going to look different. Maybe during the football season they're spending more money versus during the winter, maybe during the spring, they want to save up for spring break. So having some flexibility is also really good.
And some don'ts.
Don't try budgeting once and you know, forget about it. If it feels overwhelming at first, that's okay. Just keep on trying and keep on working with it.
Also, don't get discouraged when you do can be a lot at first and you may just have no idea what you're doing.
If you really didn't get a lot of understanding or knowledge about it in high school or from your family, that's okay. We have a lot of great resources that we're going to talk about later that will help you learn and that they are completely free.
And the last thing I always say with budgeting and finances in general is don't compare yourself to others.
College students and everyone in this life come from different, different avenues. And some people are going to make more money than you. Some parents are going to help out their students more.
Some students might have to work multiple jobs and some students may be able to not have to do that and a little bit more carefree with their spending. So focus on yourself, do what you have to do and do what you, you want to do so you can start living a little bit more financially. Well, okay.
[00:09:32] Bryan Johnson: A topic that seems to come up in every podcast we do, it has to do with parental involvement. How can parents help their student develop healthy financial habits without managing every dollar they spend? And what are some productive family conversations that they should have before the semester begins about spending habits, credit cards, emergency expenses, and financial expectations?
[00:09:55] Brendan Roszman: Yeah, I think first off, if parents are helping out the student in some sort of way with money, it's important to have a conversation just relaying, you know, this is what this money is for.
This is kind of what we expect. But also giving, giving some grace to students is really, really important. We understand that students are going to make mistakes, and that's totally okay. And that's how they're going to grow.
So if they make these mistakes while they're here at UA and they feel comfortable talking to you about it, hear them out, you know, ask them questions about why they made that decision and maybe walk them through a future situation where they can maybe do a little bit better.
With credit cards, with savings. I always.
It's always good to tell students not to overuse a credit card, right? If they have a credit card under your name, tell them what it's for. If they have a new credit card under their name, maybe have them use it for a consistent weekly or monthly expense like gas or groceries. Don't let them use it when they're going out with friends, buying, buying clothes or shopping.
With savings, I always say try to, try to save a little bit each week, each month if you can. 5 or $10.
Have a goal. Save for presents, for holidays or for spring break or going to a concert. It's always good to have goals. But I would say, most importantly, have some grace with your students. Understand that mistakes are going to happen, but also take time to just talk with them about finances and what is important to you, maybe some lessons that you have learned along the way.
[00:11:44] Bryan Johnson: All right, great. Thank you. Well, we know because you're here that fortunately, students don't have to figure all of this out on their own. So what are some financial literacy resources the University of Alabama provides to help students build strong money management skills?
And then can you share some of the workshops, one on one support, online tools, or other resources parents should know are available if their student needs help?
[00:12:10] Brendan Roszman: Yeah, of course.
And you know, the awesome thing is is all these are free for the students. And whenever I talk to the students, a lot of them don't really know about all these amazing things that are free for them here at ua. So I was able to part with a lot of different companies and resources to bring them here for the students.
So the first one is Banzai and this is sponsored by the Alabama Credit Union. This is an online free, free resource where students have access to mo modules, calculators, financial planning tools.
And Banzai is really great if you want to learn about a financial topic that may be is non traditional for an undergrad student. So let's say a student is preparing to get married when they're a junior or senior and still in school and they want to learn about that whole process and maybe they're looking to buy a home. Banzai is a really great place to learn about topics like that outside of budgeting and credit and savings and loans.
And then another one is called Cash Course.
And Cash Course is another online resource we partnered with the Higher Education of Financial Wellness. And Cash Course is really great. They have great modules and resources about topics that, you know, people think about when people think about financial wellness. So but budgeting and money management, credit and credit scores, student loans, saving strategies, financial decision making. They also have a great tool on there called Budget wizard and this is where students can map out their budgeting online.
Every single type of subcategory that they want to do. So Ubers, shopping, going to games like whatever it is. Cash Course is really, really great if students want to lock in on their budgeting or learn more about it.
And then another one is Vectors Solutions so all students have access to a platform called UA Thrive. And on UA Thrive there is a section for financial literacy so students can learn about goal setting, budgeting, credit cards, smart spending habits, all that great stuff.
And then some of the other things that we offer or I offer in my role are the peer financial coaching sessions that I mentioned earlier.
So we have five students who are going to be peer financial coaches this school year and you can sign up for a coaching session online.
This will be one on one and students fill out a pre survey to let the coach know what they want to learn about. They come in and it's just, it's very lax, it's very relaxed and yeah, it's a great way for students to learn from their fellow peers.
[00:15:20] Bryan Johnson: And can you tell them how that, can you tell them how they can find all those resources?
[00:15:23] Brendan Roszman: Yeah, of course. So if you go to our health promotion website, which is hpw, sl UA Edu.
And you go to the financial wellness tab. All these resources are on the main page. And then there's another link for the peer financial coaching program.
So all of them are laid out and all of them are free. All of them kind of show a little bit more how to access the resources. Well, all right.
[00:15:58] Bryan Johnson: Well, we're close to wrapping up, but before we do, let's talk about some practical takeaways. If you could give every University of Alabama Student 3 Simple Financial Habits to start practicing this semester, what would those be?
[00:16:11] Brendan Roszman: Yeah, that's a great question.
I would say, number one, just to start thinking about their finances and their financial wellness and what they want that to look like in the future.
College and undergrad can be amazing time for students. It can be a time when they learn about so many things and really build upon themselves for the future.
So just take the time to think about what, what you want to learn about in terms of financial wellness and really start thinking, thinking about that. Number two, I would say trial budgeting. If you can, when you can use one of these free resources. If you have time in between classes, if you have time on a weekend, if you have time over break, just try it out.
When you get. When you graduate from college, when you go into grad school or start a new job, budgeting will become even, even more important for you. So trial budgeting and the last thing I would say, try to learn something new about finances that maybe you haven't before. Go to one of these resources. If you're scared of a. If you're scared of learning about your credit score or credit cards, maybe do one of the modules about credit. If you want to learn about more about loans because you really don't know what you're getting yourself into, look into that more. Also, we have great resources that kind of can tell students about investing or if they want to look more into those a little bit deeper subjects that come up more later in life. So, yeah, I would say the big thing is try. Try some things out. Start thinking about it. Budget, most importantly, have fun. That's what college is about. But start thinking about your future and you're going to do well.
Parents are going to do well. It's going to be an amazing time.
[00:18:02] Bryan Johnson: Great. Well, let's leave parents with one last piece of encouragement. If you could give them one message about helping their students develop lifelong financial health, what would that be?
[00:18:14] Brendan Roszman: I would say, you know, kind of mentioning or kind of going back to what I mentioned earlier is, and this is maybe not what what they want to hear, but it's okay to let your students make mistakes on their own and they're going to make mistakes with their finances and that's okay.
Most importantly, if they feel comfortable coming to talk to you about it, that's amazing.
Help them learn from it and maybe help them navigate to some of these resources that I'm mentioning. They're all really easy to access, they're all really easy to use, super user friendly. So be supportive of them in their journeys, be happy if they want to come talk to you, and always, always I am a resource for you all if you ever want to reach out to me.
[00:19:05] Bryan Johnson: All right, well, thank you Brandon for helping us better understand what financial health looks like for college students. Learning how to manage money is one of the most important life skills students develop during their college years. And like every new skill, it takes practice to our listeners. Remember that your goal isn't to manage your students finances forever, it's to help them develop the confidence, habits and decision making skills they'll carry long after graduation.
So encourage open conversations, celebrate progress and remind your student that the University of Alabama offers resources and support whenever they need it. So thanks for joining us for another episode of the UA Parent Perspective Podcast and Roll Tide.
[00:19:46] Dana Bekurs: Thanks for tuning in today for the latest episode of Parent Perspectives, brought to you by the University of Alabama Parent Advisory Council. Check out all our podcasts on Voices UA Edu. You can learn more about the Parent Advisory Council, Parent Perspectives and UA Parent and Family Programs on the UA Parent and Family Programs website at Parents SL UA Edu.
