Watching Your Wallet: Family Life Center, another amazing student resource
In my sixth semester at USU, I am amazed at the resources I am still discovering offered to students for free or at little cost. As much as we complain about heightened tuition costs, budget cuts and decreased course options, the people manning this ship really are here for the students and want to help in anyway they can. One of these newly discovered resources is the Family Life Center, a center offering financial and housing counseling for USU students and the community. Located just below Old Main, the mission of the center is to educate the community so they can effectively manage their financial resources and be knowledgeable about housing. So how can they help you, a poor college student who hardly has any resources to manage? Sam Nelson, USU graduate student in consumer science and Family Life Center employee, spoke with me a bit about what exactly the center can offer to students.
Nelson said the center, a nonprofit, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved counseling center that offers housing counseling for free and financial counseling for a minimal cost (which sounds a little ironic, but Nelson said the cost is based on your income and is often free for students). The center offers four different types of financial counseling, including budget, credit management, debt reduction and risk management. She said developing financially sound habits now will help students establish good credit and save thousands of dollars of debt and financial problems.
“If you get a bad credit score now it’s going to affect everything. We help people avoid big pitfalls with financial products and get on track to surviving,” she said.
Financial counseling with the Family Life Center begins with a Nuts and Bolts Workshop, a basic financial management class. Following the class, clients meet one on one with a certified counselor who help with whatever their goals may be.
“We do anything from budgeting to getting out of debt, setting up goals, plans to get into houses, money management skills in general and improving credit scores,” she said.
The other half of the Family Life Center is dedicated to housing counseling, for students and community members looking to learn more about buying a home. The center offers pre and post purchase counseling as well as rental, mortgage default and home equity conversion mortgage counseling. Nelson said clients attend an eight-hour Home Ownership workshop, attend one-on-one counseling, and, if they finish the process, they get paid. The Bear River Association of Government offers a certificate of $2,000 toward a down payment on a home for anyone who completes the course. Sounds like a deal to me. Nelson said the workshop and counseling is very informative and incredibly useful.
“It can honestly save them thousands and thousands of dollars if they take the advice given at the workshop and just know certain things,” she said.
Nelson said the workshop and counseling together give clients the confidence and knowledge they need to go out and buy their first home.
Clearly these resources can be very helpful, but Nelson said they are underused by students.
“We don’t see a ton of students. We want to reach out to more of the student population,” she said.
Not only do they have professional financial advice to offer, Nelson said they have hundreds of ideas on how to save money and decrease expenses.
So in response, I challenge you, loyal readers, to give the Family Life Center a try, because I plan to. Whether you have financial goals you need help to reach, want to get out of debt or are wanting to know if moving out of an apartment and into a home will ever be a possibility, the Family Life Center has information and advice for you at for little or no cost. For more information or to attend a workshop or meet with a financial or housing counselor, call 797-7224, or visit http://www.usu.edu/fchd/htm/housing-financial-counseling.
– karlie.brand@aggiemail.usu.edu