Best Practices in Peer Financial Education

Abstract

Peer financial education programs are often mentioned as one of the best ways to provide financial literacy and wellness services to students. However, these programs can be incredibly difficult to launch and maintain because of the resources necessary for operations. For those trying to start or run a program, there are a number of considerations that have to be made, including whether to pay peer financial educators, how to ensure peer educators are fully trained, what topics to cover, how to ensure the service being provided is considered financial education and not advice, and how to get buy-in from your administration. This session will provide an overview of some of the top peer financial education programs in higher education, as well as research on peer programs across the country, including outcomes for the peer financial educators themselves.