St. Thomas launched a partnership in August with Salt, a financial education program that aims to inform students, alumni and their families about financial decisions.
The partnership is intended to educate students about such financial decisions by using online media resources such as articles, videos and courses to teach them.
“We want to make students informed about decisions they are making that are going to affect the rest of their life,” said Dan Meyer, vice president for enrollment management. “There are consequences to making an ill-advised decision early on in your career.”
The partnership with Salt was started when St. Thomas started looking at what avenues were available to help lessen or reduce student debt.
“I think that kind of education is good for students. Whether you borrow money or you are just looking to be more informed on your finances, Salt can help in that process,” Meyer explained.
Salt offers 12 different modules for effective financial management.
“There are Salt courses and lessons on the website, and they tell you what to bring to the lesson — for example, your credit card statement — and they will teach you how to master your plastic,” said Mary Sokol, assistant director of financial aid.
Specifically, these modules are designed to teach students students how to set a budget and become better at saving/spending money on a credit card.
Meetings are still being held to discuss how Salt can be weaved into the already existing fabric of St. Thomas. Right now the hope is to have around one-third to half of the student body using Salt by the end of the year, Meyer said.
Salt offers built-in tools so that as students move through school, they are offered different kinds of resources.
“There is a scholarship search engine to help while you are in school, and when you get closer to graduation there is an internship search engine, and when you get closer to that first job opportunity there is a job search engine as well,” Sokol said.
Salt is not designed to replace the financial aid services St. Thomas already offers, but instead they are looking to add on to the programs St. Thomas already has.
“When you go to pack for vacation, you don’t know what the weather is going to be, and that is kind of what Salt is like. It’s all packed for you — you just unpack it when you need it,” Sokol said.
Salt is offered to students for free, and although it will cost the university $20,000 this year, a women’s leadership circle is footing the bill. After this year, depending on student participation, the price may be renegotiated.
“They believe in it so strongly that they said they would fund the first year of Salt,” Sokol said.
Salt’s goal is to make students at St. Thomas more informed decision-makers.
“If you are better informed in making decisions, you will make smarter decisions, and that is what college is all about,” Meyer said.
Lydia Lockwood can be reached at lock0052@stthomas.edu