Phil Schuman and Bryan Ashton discuss the National Summit on Collegiate Financial Wellness

The National Summit on Collegiate Financial Wellness is set to kick off this coming June 15 -17 at The Ohio State University. The summit enters its fourth year and will feature some of the most prominent names in Financial Wellness, including Annamaria Lusardi, Adam Carroll, and Ethan Fletcher.

The Summit seeks to unite educators who are passionate about student financial wellness. It provides professionals in higher education with a venue to learn from and network with individuals who share the same passion–from redefining the concept of financial wellness to improving student understanding of personal finance management.

Summit Co-Chairs Bryan Ashton of The Ohio State University and Phil Schuman of Indiana University are two of the people driving this movement. We asked them a few questions about the event and its history to help educate the financial wellness community.

iGrad: Why did you guys start this event?

Phil: Prior to the first Summit (2014) we had been to several conferences where the topic of financial wellness was addressed, but was clearly not their primary purpose. At these conferences and through other channels, we met many people who had a desire to have a forum where financial wellness in higher education could be the sole topic covered. We decided that there was enough interest to build the forum, which has been very well-received.

Bryan: Additionally, we felt that the Summit environment would create a unique opportunity for individuals to gather and discuss this topic across organizational silos. This approach allows attendees to meet individuals from other functional areas and return to campus with ideas on how to partner with other campus units. However, and I think most importantly, we’re looking to start the flow of ideas that arrive at better support for our students around their finances.

iGrad: How has the event evolved over the years?

Phil: The Summit started as an Ohio specific conference on financial wellness hosted by The Ohio State University in 2013. In 2014 we had the conversation to move it to a national level, which turned the Summit into the format attendees see now. Since 2014, the structure of the Summit hasn’t really changed but the level of programming has. In 2015 we added a couple of pre-conferences to expand the knowledge that attendees can receive and for this year we’ve expanded to 6 pre-conference offerings. Over the last few years, we’ve also gained a lot more exposure in the higher education world, which has allowed us the opportunity to bring in some really fantastic keynote speakers that contribute greatly to our cause.

Bryan: It has also been exciting to see this grow into a truly national movement as we had 39 states represented last year and already have a few new states registered for this year.

iGrad: What are your goals with the summit this year and in the long term?

Phil: The Summit is about higher education financial wellness and making connections within the new community. That doesn’t really change this year. We hope attendees will learn how to create/expand their financial wellness program and will make connections with other attendees that will really help them learn best practices.

I think that the foundation described above doesn’t change, but we hope that over the course of the next 10 years we can have an influence on financial wellness policy that is generated from an institutional, local, state, and national level. We hope that through our network of professionals, we can help shine light on financial wellness research that helps direct institutions on how to build effective programs.

Bryan: The field is still relatively in its infancy, but it’s being thrust into the spotlight with all of the conversations around students finances on a national level. We know that there is a lot of room for growth in the field through a variety of different lenses, but I think there is a ton of opportunity to explore new programs/interventions that are evidence based and are enhancing students experiences around the country.

iGrad: How did the collaboration between schools come about?

Phil: Back in 2013, we both had a desire to try and help those entering the higher education financial wellness arena, but weren’t entirely sure what the best path was. Through discussions, we realized that a creation of a forum to share best practices made a lot of sense. Our institutions were incredibly supportive of the idea and allowed us the chance to create the Summit because they understood the opportunity to benefit the entire higher education community.

“Attending the NSCFW was such a rewarding experience! Sharing time with a variety of higher education professionals and financial wellness advocates from across the country was invaluable time spent examining what we can do to help improve our higher education system. The resources and connections fostered by the Summit are a true testament to the commitment the NSCFW community has made to student success. I look forward to witnessing the continued conversations and growth of the NSCFW”

Shawna Chambers, Portland State University

iGrad: What has been the biggest challenge in regards to this event?

Phil: We don’t have full-time staff, which means we don’t have anybody that’s specifically responsible for the Summit on a day-to-day basis. It also means we don’t have a marketing team that can consistently get our message out there, which means we have solely been relying on our contacts to help get the word out there. That being said, what we do have is a lot of great colleagues who believe in the Summit as much as we do and have pledged some of their free time in helping us get the word out. In a sense, to a lot of us the Summit has become a passion project that we want to see succeed and that has really helped overcome the challenges.

Bryan: There are so many programs around the country that are in a wide variety of places. Some are new and some are more established. Some are well resourced and some are volunteer based. Some are based on courses and others are based on one on one interventions. This inevitably makes it difficult to put together a schedule every year, but we have been extremely fortunate to have some amazing contributors from around the country that have helped us work through that.

iGrad: What was your favorite moment of the summits so far?

Phil: In 2015 the Summit was hosted in Bloomington, Indiana and Indiana University, which is my hometown and my school. Being able to bring over 200 people to talk about the work I love in the town I love was something I’ll never forget. Specifically, though, listening to my boss (VPCFO MaryFrances McCourt) and our University President (Michael McRobbie) talk to all my colleagues about why Indiana University is so invested in the topic and why they’re proud of the word we’ve done was unbelievable.

Bryan: I think my favorite moments have occurred outside of the Summit. These are conversations with friends and colleagues who remark that the Summit has become their “go to conference for the year” or the opportunity that they can’t forget throughout the year. It’s also always awesome to hear the success stories of initiatives that are changing students’ careers that have come out of the Summit as people build new programs, enhance existing programs and develop new interventions that are really helping their student bodies.

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