Our Mission
The mission of the Money Smart program at Rockland Community College is to teach students personal financial understanding and responsibility focusing on financial literacy, responsible borrowing, and knowledge of markets and economics.
Our Vision
The Money Smart Program will provide every student at Rockland Community College with the fundamental skills that empower them to make well-informed financial decision in the real world.
What is Financial Literacy?
While there is no standard definition, financial literacy is the ability to understand the financial skills needed to effectively manage your personal finances. Money Smart expands your financial literacy by offering programming that achieves financial understanding of conceptual relationships (i.e. your money’s purchasing power) and contextual factors (i.e. Financial life cycles, a student’s role within financial markets).
Through 1-on-1 coaching, in class workshops, self-paced modules, and financial wellness events the Money Smart program is able to tie in topical financial concepts that facilitate an understanding of your net worth and promote financial independence.
What Services Do You Offer?
What is Money Smart Coaching?
The Money Smart Financial Coaching Program (MSFCP) is an extra-curricular program that provides tools, resources, and customized advice to help you manage your money and plan for success as you complete a college degree and pursue a career.
The main objective of the MSFCP is to give you a combination of resources, education, and one-on-one coaching that is focused on your individual goals and your financial outcomes. As a part of this program, you will be able to meet with your financial coach on a regular basis over the course of the semester or academic year. Your coach will help you determine your financial goals and then take actionable steps.
How will financial coaching work?
Pretty simple! You simply make an appointment for an initial meeting with a coach. After that, we will schedule times to meet approximately every two or three weeks, whatever fits with your class schedule. Coaching discussions will be private and confidential and take place on Zoom or in person. We offer regular appointments on weekday afternoons (4:00 to 8:00 PM), with some availability on weekends.
What types of goals will I be setting?
We believe that learning to save money is the basis for financial freedom. So, we will encourage you to do the following:
- Open a saving account if you do not already have one.
- Complete a monthly budget for you individually, or for your household.
- Identify an amount you can afford to save every month and save for three consecutive months. The amount you save is not important-it can be as little as $5-10. What’s important is developing consistency and introducing habits that promote financial independence.
- You can also set other goals that have to do with paying down debt, improving your credit score, or building credit if you do not have any.
- You may also have career-related goals, such as updating a resume or researching job prospects.
Ready to start? Book a session today using our interactive Bookings Page!
Are you interested in becoming a Peer Mentor?
The Peer Mentor program also provides a select group of Rockland Community College students the opportunity to learn about personal finance and then engage in activities and projects that spread their financial knowledge to their peers at RCC and in the community.
Why be a Peer Mentor?
Peer Mentors get the opportunity to work with the Financial Literacy Coordinator to create programming and access to resources that will serve students at Rockland Community College. Mentors will develop financial literacy skills and public speaking skills to become leaders in their community.
Mentor Responsibilities
- Provide presentations on basic financial literacy concepts in the Introduction to the Schools (IttS) course
- Serve as an official college representative during workshops, summits, and external presentations
- Manage projects and meet expected deadlines
- Work with students to develop a college financial plan
- Have a basic understanding of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
Required Qualifications
- Must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress
- Able to commit a full academic year to be a mentor
- Interest in public speaking and working with fellow students
- Knowledge of campus resources and support system
- Strong interpersonal skills