Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine: Connecting the dots between behavior and budgets.

The MSU College of Veterinary Medicine is recognized as a global leader in veterinary health education through a cost-effective, learner-centered education for career-ready, high-value graduates. Dr. Donna Harris was concerned that students often graduate with a 2:1 debt to salary ratio. With tuition being out of their control, she wanted to give them a sense of controlling what they can as they incur debt following their career dreams. Consequently, she initiated a financial literacy training program to help students in the vet school make better financial decisions and included Money Habitudes as one of her tools.

Outcomes

• Students reactions were very positive. They thought Money Habitudes was fun, insightful and not stressful.
• It started conversations and students were comfortable talking about their money situations amongst themselves.
• It gave students the awareness of how their behavior affects their budgets thereby giving them more control of how they make financial choices.
• It helps them connect the dots between what they want and how to achieve it.

How They Use Money Habitudes

• Money Habitudes was an assignment as part of the financial literacy training program. She chose this tool because she knows that games and gamification are helpful to reach Gen Z and liked that it helped them understand their own behavior before learning financial management skills.
• Money Habitudes cards were used in this program for several years and then the online version was used to accommodate to the need for virtual learning. The switch was seamless and student comments included “refreshing” and “insightful” and they liked the personal report.