The Peer Money Mentor program provides a select group of Austin 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 ACC and the greater Austin community.
The Peer Money Mentor program is a one-semester program. Students selected into the program meet on Friday afternoons at the Highland Campus and learn about a variety of personal finance topics including budgeting, credit reports, credit scores, saving and investing, and buying a car. Our goal is to get the students comfortable enough with these topics that they can then have great conversations with their peers. We use Foundations in Personal Finance College Edition, guest speakers, and our own curriculum to educate the Peers.
Peer Money Mentors participate in outreach activities on behalf of the Student Money Mangement Office including tabling at Student Life Riverbat Bashes and during financial aid awareness week. You may also see them on a random day at the Highland Campus set up with a table promoting SMMO programming! They encourage students to participate in our Finding the Money workshops and Rainy Day Savings Program. Mentors also assist SMMO staff at Finding the Money workshops by providing individual guidance to students completing the ACC scholarship application.
Each Peer Money Mentor picks a personal finance topic they are particularly excited about and develops a 10-minute educational presentation. The Peers coordinate with a professor of their choice and arrange to deliver the presentation to their classmates. This exposes SMMO to a wide range of academic departments and increases the awareness of faculty and students about SMMO.
The Peer Money Mentors also participate in one group project for the semester. Past projects have included making recommendations for collaboration between SMMO and the ACC libraries, hosting a community-wide credit day in conjunction with ACC’s spring job fair, coordinating an investment workshop for ACC students, and participating in ACC’s re-design of the Student Emergency Fund.
Exceptional peers are invited to return for a second semester as Peer Money Mentor Leaders. The leaders assume additional roles such as introducing educational topics to the new Peer Money Mentors and conducting a portion of “Take Control of Your Money”, an in-class workshop presented by the Student Money Management Office in the EDUC and SDEV classes. Leaders also contribute to the Student Money Management Office blog. Here are recent blog posts written by our spring 2019 leaders: Five ways to improve your credit; Saving money with packed lunches; and Po’ man chic.
Frequently asked questions, program eligiblity, and the application can be found on the “Apply” page.
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