In this NGPF Podcast, Candice Webb of Meredith College shares the details about her Strong Points program. Strong Points is a holistic program that provides Meredith's students with the skills they need to succeed at college and in the "real world." This advising and personal coaching program includes a significant helping of financial education. Listen to Candice describe the ways she guides students through their college journey. Enjoy!

Details:

• 0:00–0:56 Introduction
• 0:57–3:13 All-inclusive: building initiative in students
• 3:14–6:04 How the StrongPoints program evolved
• 6:05–7:32 Identifying strengths is a self-learning process
• 7:33–8:51 Generation gap: how life experience plays a role
• 8:52–11:11 Where Candice found her calling to help others
• 11:12–14:21 StrongPoints increases knowledge about financial wellness
• 14:22–15:17 Not a one-size-fits-all conversation: talking to a wide demographic of students
• 15:18–17:33 Planning financial aid & helping students make fiscally responsible decisions
• 17:34–19:19 Every student has their own (financial) journey
• 19:20–21:08 Tailoring the case studies to fit the students’ experience
• 21:09–24:45 “Reality check” & communal decision-making
• 24:46–25:37 The importance of values at Meredith College
• 25:38–30:51 Traditional financial planning courses with a twist
• 30:52–31:54 Sowing the seed to save more and spend less
• 31:55–33:02 You get what you pay for when buying apps
• 33:03–33:48 In hindsight, now impacts later
• 33:49–35:50 Candice’s advice for high school students: “keep talking about money”
• 35:51–36:35 Conclusion

About Candice:

• Candice Webb is the former Director of the StrongPoints program at Meredith College
• She received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Every student takes the CliftonStrengths Assessment when they enter Meredith College
• Candice’s favorite app: Enpass

Notable Quotes:

• “We help students plan around four areas of emphasis: we help students with their (1) academic planning, (2) their experiential or co-curricular involvement, (3) their financial decision-making, (4) and career planning.”
• “Our non-traditional students take to [the StrongPoints program] much more quickly… and I think the thing that we found is that they have a little more life experience, and they’ve had more opportunities to kind of see how they react in different settings.”
• “When we think about financial education, we think about obvious things like budgeting, debt… but what’s been really interesting to watch is how some of our faculty members have embraced financial education and incorporated it into what they’re doing.”

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

Danielle Bautista

Danielle is a native of Southern California and a recent graduate from the University of Maine, where she braved the frigid winters—a feat in and of itself—and earned her Bachelor's degree in International Affairs. She has a passion for working with non-profit organizations and serving populations in underprivileged communities. When Danielle isn't writing NGPF blog posts, spearheading various outreach projects, or managing contests and flash surveys, you can find her doing some sort of outdoor activity, learning a new hobby, or cracking what she thinks are witty puns!