HUNTSVILLE — The University of Alabama in Huntsville College of Business has received a $30,000 gift from Regions Bank to fund a financial wellness program, the university announced.
The program will provide students the opportunity to learn about financial planning and garner tools and resources to help safeguard their financial futures.
“We are grateful for the commitment of Regions Bank to UAH, our students and the financial wellness of our community,” said Dr. Jason Greene, dean of the College of Business. “Students who are selected to participate will complete a three-week program in which they are taught sound principles influencing financial wellness, such as personal budgeting, saving, credit cards and debt.
“In addition to being better prepared with financial knowledge, students who complete the program earn a scholarship that is made possible by the Regions Bank gift.”
The results from a pilot program in 2020-21 indicated it would benefit the students.
“With support from Regions Bank, the College of Business developed a financial wellness curriculum that is delivered to students, with a focus on students with financial need,” Greene said.
The purpose of the pilot program was to test the effects of a financial literacy program on the financial knowledge of students. The study was designed to determine if participants scored higher on a financial literacy instrument when first provided a program covering topics such as budgeting, saving money, resources and student loans.
“Over the past year, we have run a pilot study of the financial wellness curriculum,” said Dr. Wafa Orman, College of Business associate dean and associate professor of economics. “We hypothesized that developing students’ financial knowledge would also increase their resilience and sense of self-efficacy. Students who participated in the program saw a statistically significant increase in their financial knowledge scores (about 16%) that persisted even three months later.
“They also saw improvements in their resilience and self-efficacy scores immediately after the program. We look forward to rolling the program out more broadly, and hope that many of our students can benefit from it. We are deeply grateful to Regions Bank for their support of the pilot program, the scholarships and their assistance in developing the curriculum.”
Support from Regions Bank will allow the college to offer the program to a wider audience, with preference for Pell Grant recipients. Students who participate will also take part in both pre- and post-program surveys.
“The College of Business is honored to have excellent community partners like Regions Bank,” Greene said. “This gift is just the latest example of their outstanding commitment to UAH and our community.”
Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our email newsletter to have all our smart stories delivered to your inbox.
