Mario Gonzalez/The Rider Graphic
High school never taught its students what to expect after college–other than obtaining a degree and working.
But what happens once you get a job? How do people build credit? How do people invest? Life is more than just the core subjects and a job–it’s personal investment–and it will be taught during UTRGV’s first Financial Literacy Week starting today.
The College of Business and Entrepreneurship and the Department of Economics and Finance, sponsored by State Farm, Wells Fargo and Capital One, will host the Financial Literacy Week activities at multiple locations across the Edinburg campus.
Edna Pulido, a UTRGV Fall 2015 graduate student, said Texas has a 12.8 percent average of student debt burden, or student debt as a percentage of median family income.
In the Rio Grande Valley, however, the percentage is at least 1.5 times more than the state average. Pulido believes that everyone can benefit from financial education.
“I think that there is not one person exempt from needing those skills. We’re going to be talking about topics such as … [evaluating job offers],” the economics and political science graduate said. “They’re going to learn how they need to take into consideration [offers beyond] salary. They need to see if they need to relocate. There’s so much more than just salary.”
Financial Literacy Week will consist of four different events in four consecutive days.
Today, Lourdes Servantes, associate director of Career Services, will talk about what happens once you get a job. The event will take place from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Student Academic Center 1.103.
The next day will cover credit and identity with Al Coleman from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The presentation will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at Academic Services Building 1.106.
On Wednesday, Assistant Professor Terrance Martin from the economics and finance department will educate the attendees on investing. The event will take place from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Business Administration building 113.
On Thursday, Martin and other financial representatives will be at U-Central 1.197 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to offer free financial counseling, as well as advice on retirement and debt.
On the final day, Friday, the event will reward the winners of an essay contest on financial literacy.
University and high school students submitted essay covers on what financial literacy means to the individual, identifying problems in the RGV and potential solutions. The deadline was last Wednesday.
The purpose of the essay was to bring awareness to the lack of financial education in the Valley and to tap into critical thinking for possible solutions. This event will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Business Administration building 214.
Drawings for tablets will be conducted at each event. For more information or special requests, contact Martin at (940) 224-5027.
