‘Monarch Millionaire’ Program Offers Students Lessons in Financial Literacy
October 19, 2012
The first "class" of students who have completed the innovative "Monarch Millionaire" financial literacy program will graduate from their five-week course on Oct. 30.
In a ceremony at 7 p.m. at the Ted Constant Convocation Center, 86 ODU students will receive certificates from ODU's Office of Finance and Higher One, a higher education-focused financial services company.
Higher One provided a $3,500 grant to the Office of Finance's Monarch Project to start Monarch Millionaire. Mary Johnson of Higher One will give the commencement address for the ceremony. Bob Fenning, ODU vice president for administration and finance, will present the diplomas.
The initiative is aimed at helping address the looming student debt crisis in this country. Current and former students have accumulated an estimated $1 trillion in debt, with the average Virginia student graduating with more than $23,000 in debt.
The Monarch Millionaire program is open to all students who want to learn about personal finance topics, such as budgeting, banking, credit cards and life after college. ODU was chosen from more than 50 applicants to receive the grant from Higher One.
The Monarch Millionaire program was proposed by the Monarch Project of ODU's Office of Finance, which partnered with the College of Business and Public Administration, Aramark, Follett Campus Book Stores, Global Spectrum, the ODU Credit Union and ODU's Office of Housing and Residence Life.
The goal of Monarch Millionaire is to improve ODU students' financial literacy through a balanced mix of fun and informative lessons, discussions and practice work. With the help of its sponsors, Monarch Millionaire offers free drinks, snacks and prizes during each class. Every participant in the program received a Monarch Millionaire T-shirt, and attendees were eligible for prize giveaways.
Students wishing to reserve a seat in the next Monarch Millionaire program can email their name, UIN, phone number and T-shirt size to monarchmillionaire@odu.edu.
Higher One Holdings Inc. is a leading company focused on helping college business offices manage operations and providing enhanced service to students. Higher One provides its services to approximately 6.2 million students at distinguished public and private higher education institutions nationwide. More information about the company can be found at HigherOne.com.