College students are busy. They are often being pulled in many different directions, so getting their attention can be a struggle. School, work, friends, sports, and clubs all seem more important than learning how to manage their money.  

But, in a decade, many students will look back and wish they had spent more time learning how to effectively manage their finances.

Financial education has been shown to increase graduation rates, help people save for retirement and other goals, and reduce debt.1

Related whitepaper: Diplomas, Debt & Default: How Financial Wellness Helps College Student Break the Cycle

Financial wellness programs help college students prepare for the future difficulties of adult life.

But many students will ignore these programs, even when offered for free from their schools. That is why a personalized financial wellness program is so important. 

Personalization is designing something to meet an individual's requirements. It draws people in. 9 out of 10 U.S. consumers find personalization appealing.2

Here are five key ways a personalized financial wellness program helps increase student engagement.

1. Basic personalization

Basic things like using a person's name instead of a generic headline can have a dramatic effect. Consumers are more than twice as likely to view a personalized offer as important. And emails with personalized subject lines are 29% more likely to be opened.3

It may not seem like much, but these nuances are important to making a student feel seen and heard.

2. The program provides a financial assessment of the student 

This is the best first step for any program. A comprehensive financial assessment will ask questions of a user to gauge their current financial situation. It will learn about their troubles and goals. From here, the building blocks of personalization begin.

Knowing where the student stands with their money management skills and basic financial knowledge allows the program to tailor content to the user's needs and wants.

Related article: iGrad Creates First Financial Wellness Personality Assessment 

3. It pushes recommendations based on a student's current financial status

The demographics of a student population vary widely, from teenagers living with parents to students who are parents themselves. Their financial statuses will vary greatly as well.

A personalized holistic financial wellness program tailors itself to a student's current status. Based on the financial assessment, the program can eliminate irrelevant topics and promote more relevant ones.

One student may be interested in buying a house, while another may need to save for a child's education. Regardless of what their current financial state is, the program can address it.

A standard, non-personalized program will lose the interest of both those students.

4. The program provides actual credit scores and full reports

A personalized program can take a user's input and bring in other information from around the internet. Credit scores and reports are important to monitor, but few people actually go through the trouble of checking them.

The financial wellness program can make it easier for people to see and understand their own financial information.

5. The program provides actual action plans

Standard advice like "save for retirement" is easy to ignore. Many young people may think that saving for retirement is less important than other goals.

A personalized financial wellness program provides actual, personal action plans based on the interactions it has had with the student. These custom plans are the key to converting financial education into financial action.

Regardless of whether they know it or not, financial education is important to any college student's success – in school and beyond.

Providing a personalized, customizable financial wellness program helps colleges to create successful students.

Draw students to your program using their names. Keep them engaged in the program by understanding their needs and wants. And make them come back for more by providing actual action plans that will change their lives for the better.

 

1 - https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-financial-literacy-and-why-is-it-important/

2 - https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/02/18/50-stats-showing-the-power-of-personalization/?sh=20bf30c02a94

3- https://www.piesync.com/blog/marketing-personalization//span>