Wellness and well-being are woven into the life of Penn’s campus for students, faculty, postdocs, and staff. In a new series, Penn Today is highlighting some University’s resources aimed at supporting the campus community.
This first part looked at behavioral and mental health, and well-being resources. Upcoming topics in the series are physical health and well-being, family friendly policies and resources, online safety and best practices, and public safety resources.
Financial Wellness @ Penn (FW@P) is a program for undergraduate and graduate students launched in 2020, headed by Financial Wellness Program Manager Lyndsi Burcham. As an undergraduate in the College of Arts & Sciences from 2015 to 2019, during which time she served on the financial aid advisory board for student organization Penn First, she says she and others consistently saw first-generation, low-income students ask for financial literacy resources. That began formal conversations to organize a program, which culminated in FW@P’s first workshop in January 2020.
“There was a desire from the bottom up that had been there for a while,” Burcham says.
The program is student-driven and supports students of all backgrounds, from all 12 Schools—which, she says is not characteristic of all financial wellness programs in higher education. She leads a team of 15 students who provide workshops and peer counseling. In developing the peer educator program, she worked with an instructional design graduate student in the Graduate School of Education. The workshop program, meanwhile, hosts approximately 35 requested workshops per semester, in addition to eight general workshops.
Most questions, she says, relate to budgeting, building credit, and investing. Though she says the program is equipped to help students who are experiencing more serious concerns.
“When we talk about our program, the response I always get form alumni and staff is, ‘I wish I had this when I was in college,’ and my true response is almost always, ‘Yes, you say that now with the gift of hindsight, but really students have so many competing goals and interests and desire that even if they want it, they may not be making time for it,’” Burcham says. “I’d love to increase the reach we have and get more people to come in and realize this doesn’t have to take up a lot of time; the hardest part is getting started.”
FW@P provides several options for students to navigate their financial concerns and start planning for the future:
• Peer Counseling: Virtual and in-person appointments are available for students to meet with trained peer educators for individualized personal financial counseling.
• Workshops: Campus offices and student groups can request workshops from a menu of options, presented by peer educators.
• Templates and worksheets: Worksheets are available for download for budgeting and goal setting.
The Division of Human Resources provides several programs focused on financial wellness and planning for faculty, staff, and postdocs, including:
• Retirement planning resources: Penn supports retirement savings with robust contributions to its Basic and Matching retirement plans and the opportunity to participate in the SRA plan. The Retirement Savings Plan Education page lays out links to webinars, guides, tools, and calculators. You can meet with a TIAA retirement plan consultant for a no-cost personalized one-on-one investment education. Fall Thinking About Retirement live online sessions run Oct. 10, Oct. 15, and 30.
• Financial wellness events: Penn HR regularly offers events related to financial wellness, like a MetLife-hosted session on estate planning and PNC Bank workshop on identity theft. Be in the Know wellness campaign participants can earn points by attending designated financial wellness events.
• Student loan forgiveness assistance: Penn offers a free service to staff and faculty to help determine eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, assist with navigating the application process, and advocate on your behalf with student loan providers.
• TIAA retirement plan consultations: TIAA provides no-cost personalized one-on-one consultations from a TIAA financial consultant. These can be scheduled online or via phone at 800-732-8353.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) financial and legal guidance: The EAP offers 30 minutes of financial guidance and legal consultation to discuss topics ranging from budgeting to weighing whether to adjust payroll tax withholdings and estate planning.
University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) employees benefit from these resources:
• Fidelity Retirement Planning and Monthly Webinars: Information sessions discussing debt, retirement, savings, and other topics, as well as individualized consults.
• On-Demand Financial Webcasts: If you can’t attend one of the webinars, Fidelity offers on-demand webcasts about everything from raising money-smart kids to understanding Medicare.
• PNC Workplace Banking: Online tools and access to experts are designed for finance management. This is also available to University employees.
• PeopleJoy student loan support: This benefit assists employees in identifying ways, through a digital assessment, to potentially reduce or even eliminate federal student loan debt based on individual circumstances.
