USM departments collaborate for National Financial Capability Month
As the Month of April gets underway, several University of Southern Mississippi departments are coming together to equip students with the knowledge and skills to make informed financial decisions, and foster financial literacy and well-being.
Through a series of events and activities, the Southern Miss Office of Scholarships, USM Student Counseling Services, and USM Flight Ambassadors are hoping their efforts prove beneficial for students throughout National Financial Capability Month. All three groups have designated a week each for students to learn about financial capabilities. Their first event, called Mind Your Money, was hosted by USM Student Counseling Services. And it aimed to provide students with insight on how to protect their mental health while working on their financial health.
Jasmine Colemen-Miller, assistant director of operations development of undergraduate scholarships, stressed the significance of the activity.
“This event was to help students make connections between mental health and financial health,” she said. “Those two go hand and hand. And for financial literacy month, we will have an event every Thursday in Union Room B at 2:30.”
Dannielle Robin, a licensed mental wellness counselor in Student Counseling Services, helped present information about mental health and financial health. And her agenda included topics that focused on distinct types of mental health, finances, spending, making a plan, and money. Other subjects centered on how mental health affects managing money and ways money can impact mental health, emotional spending, monitoring mental health and spending, recognizing impulsive spending, and discussing tips to improve, why people avoid managing finances, and why and how people improve their financial situations.
Robin also discussed unhealthy and costly coping mechanisms, making coping plans, and tips to help with memory, concentration, and learning problems that may be getting in the way of money management.
During her efforts, Robin presented the S.M.A.R.T. Tool. S represents Specific, M represents Measurable, A represents Attainable, R represents Relevant, and T represents Timely. Robin also presented a video focused on being mindful and money responsibility, presented by I-Grad.
Aaliyah Johnson, the president of Flight Ambassadors, spoke on the benefits of the event.
“We learned about mental health, and I feel that this event was a pretty good event,” she said. “It was very helpful, and I wish a lot of more people would have come.”
Students also left the event with a new perspective and tools to be on their way toward improving their overall financial well–being.
Future events include Dollars and Sense, with TRIO Student Support Services on April 11; Money Moves, with Student Employment, on April 18; and Dollars and Decisions on April 25.
For more information on the events and activities hosted by the Southern Miss Office of Scholarships, USM Student Counseling Services, and USM Flight Ambassadors, check them out on their social media: @usmscholarships, @usmcounseling, and @usmflightambassadors.
