'Making Cents' Teaches Financial Skills Through The Game of Life

For students looking to learn the skills needed to manage their finances after graduation, the Marist College Student Financial Services office is offering an interactive learning experience dedicated to financial literacy. All students are invited to the McCann Center on Oct. 21 to learn how to be financially independent through the program “Making Cents: The Game of Life.” 

After signing in at the event in the Recreation Gym, students choose their desired career, where they hope to live, and are given a practical budget. With this information, students are free to roam to any of the dozens of tables set up around the space. Each station has a different topic—including budgeting for rent, utilities, roommates, copays, health insurance, car insurance and even extracurriculars.

After learning about what expenses they will have to prepare to cover once they graduate and enter the workforce, students have the opportunity to meet with a counselor to look over their budgeting sheets and find places to make changes if they’re not happy with how their budget turned out. 

Stefanie Cusano, the director of the Financial Literacy program in Student Financial Services, is one of the main organizers of Making Cents. When Cusano took over the program four years ago, she began planning smaller programs for students to learn about responsible spending, but she found it difficult to get students engaged.

“No one wants to talk about this stuff,” she said. “But if I get in front of students or they come to me with questions, we can connect.” Making Cents became one of the best ways to connect with students about their future finances, as it is able to “teach students how to be an adult,” Cusano said. 

In the past, there has been such a great turnout to the events that the Financial Literacy program now also organizes smaller events throughout the semester to talk about other important life skills like budgeting and credit.

Although the pandemic has made it more difficult to host such events, Cusano is not letting that stop her. 

To sign up for Making Cents, students can go to their MyMarist account and register for one of twelve time slots from 9:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. on Oct. 21. However, students who are interested must sign up before Oct.18, as spaces are limited due to COVID-19 safety guidelines. But if there is room during certain time slots, walk-ins will still be welcomed.

Last year, there were only two sessions with over 100 attendees each. This year there are already over 125 students signed up. To accommodate the amount of students interested, Cusano made the event longer. In response to COVID-19 guidelines, Cusano has decided to go paperless with laminated sheets that can be wiped down — and students themselves will bring their own budgeting sheets from myMarist to eliminate the spread of the virus through handouts — and special attention has been paid to organize the flow of students as they navigate the tables.

“This event is a glimpse at your life after you graduate,” Cusano said. “These are skills you may not learn in the classroom, but it's just as important as anything else you learn in college.”

With social distancing and safety protocols in place, this year’s Making Cents event will help students learn the skills needed to manage their finances responsibly after graduation. Taken at the Making Cents event in 2019. Source: Student Financial Services