Enrolment Services Money Management 101
Creators: name: Zahedi, Ali
name: Zhou, Brian
name: Pang, Candice
name: Cui, Wenbo (Eric)
name: Krishnan, Jjay
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2018

description: In January 2018, Team Seven was contracted by UBC Enrolment Services to create a proposal plan that addresses the key question: “what do domestic undergraduate students (DUS) need and want to learn regarding financial wellness, and what are the most effective forms of delivering this information to suit student needs?” Team Seven answered this question by interviewing a variety of DUS from different faculties and year levels and utilizing the information gathered to build upon the strong foundation set by UBC Enrolment Services. The results of this three-month project are summarized below. About the Client- 42 ESPs and 3 Associate ESPs all offer individual advising services to all UBC students in various areas pertaining to financial literacy. In addition to providing financial advising and support, Enrolment Services (ES) also offer lunch-hour seminars, workshops, and online webinars to further educate students. ES and the ESPs are facing underwhelming interest from students despite a clear need by students to acquire further financial knowledge. In order to better equip students for dealing with their financial needs while they’re studying at UBC and post-grad, ES has recognized a need for a comprehensive long-term strategy to engage more of the DUS body. Decision Making- The current methods of delivering information to students yield a very positive response from those students who attend; the issue is in the fact that not enough students are taking the time to connect with ES and ESPs to acquire this information. This shows that there is a very strong foundation already set and that the information that is being relayed over to students is deemed as valuable by students, showing that ESPs are on the right track. Team Seven focuses on a strategy that attempts to do the following: 1. Expand upon the information that ESPs currently provide to include topics that are currently being overlooked 2. Utilize several different tactics to deliver this information through avenues that students are more willing to utilize to ensure the largest percentage of DUS are being given the information they need from ES and ESPs. Team Seven proposes six main tactics in order to achieve the overarching goal of educating a larger portion of the DUS body on financial wellness. First, our team suggests updating the information to include broader topics outside the scope of tuition assistance by creating a centralized hub of information that students can access to gather information on a variety of topics. Next, content delivery should be altered to include more online based materials (centralized hub) as well as educational videos. A third modification we recommend is to enhance existing communication channels that students already access on a regular basis such as the Student Service Center (SSC) to include quick financial tips that may be valuable to students. A greater emphasis on online videos will allow students to access materials at their own convenience without the commitment that existing channels require. Our two final methods of educating the DUS would be through implementation of social media channels (similar to UBCfyi) as well as the creation of an educational game that serves to educate students in a more engaging way. Team Seven understands this may be an ambitious strategy but through proper implementation as outlined in this report, specific key metrics can be hit and progress be made toward the overarching goal of educating more DUS by the end of this three year plan. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”