Faculty and staff members seeking financial advice are in luck: The College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the Georgia Federal Credit Union are teaming up to present eight free seminars about money management.
Each session is geared specifically for university employees. They last about 40 minutes a piece and take place at noon on Wednesdays from Sept. 27 to Nov. 15 in the Tate Student Center.
Each class covers one topic, ranging from credit scores, identity theft, retirement accounts to debt management. Topics were determined through meetings between the Staff Council and representatives from family and consumer sciences.
“We met with the Staff Council Executive Committee and talked back and forth about what kind of topics they felt would help the most. We gave them a list of topics we were covering in our classes, and they said ‘We like a few of those, but what do you with TRS funds when you’re leaving and you’re not vested?’,” said Lance Palmer, who is heading up the program from the UGA side.
“They came up with some different ideas than we suggested, that’s how we decided to cover things like flex spending accounts. We fine-tuned the program to their ideas.”
Palmer, an assistant professor of housing and consumer economics, and Joseph Goetz, an assistant professor in the family financial planning program, structured classes for this semester around this idea.
Their students, many of whom are majoring in financial planning, will teach the seminars. It’s a good chance for students to learn how to teach and an opportunity for university employees to learn a few financial tips to help them plan, Palmer said.
The idea for the series started more than a year ago, when employees at the credit union contacted the university about setting up free seminars.
“When I came to the credit union, I became aware that here are a lot of people who could do better financially but never got the tools with which to work,” said Tom Cochran, director of university relations at the credit union.
“We saw the opportunity for partnership that could be beneficial to the academic program as well as the employees,” he said.
“These sessions are an outgrowth of early discussions.”
The group decided to meet during a time when most employees could attend-lunch hour. To make up for a shortened lunch, light refreshments will be served during the seminars.