Una, Shoals Debt Management Offer Financial Workshops For Students

Feb. 25, 2011

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, Ala. - The University of North Alabama Office of Student Engagement and Shoals Debt Management have teamed together to offer college students the skills to become financially literate through a series of "Money Made Simple" workshops, offered now to April. The various workshops are taking place on the UNA campus and are featuring topics about managing credit, understanding loans, establishing credit and buying a house or car after college graduation. The workshops are free and are bringing professionals from local banks and finance companies to speak at the sessions. "Students will have to deal with finances for the rest of their lives," said Tammy Jacques, UNA director of student engagement. "It's important for them to learn the skills of how to manage their bills and debts now and to learn how to plan ahead." The first workshop, "Credit 101 - Managing Your Credit," was offered Feb. 24 and will be offered again March 3 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Guillot University Center Loft. Students will have the opportunity to hear speakers discuss the basics of credit and how it affects their lives after college. The second workshop will focus on loan management and will take place March 10 and 17 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the GUC Loft. Jacques hopes students with outstanding student or other loans will participate in the session to learn more about paying them back after graduation. Students who want to establish their own credit but don't know how to go about doing so can attend the third session April 7 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in GUC 207 and April 14 in the GUC Loft. A final session on buying a house or car after graduation will take place April 28 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the GUC Loft. "Knowledge is power," said Charles Cole, vice president of operations at Shoals Debt Management. "In the society and recession that we are in now, knowing [about financial literacy] is not half the battle, but the whole battle." Students who attend at least two workshops will have their names entered into a drawing, where a scholarship funded by Shoals Debt Management will be given away to a randomly chosen student. Students who are interested in attending the workshops should call Shoals Debt Management at 256-381-6451 or e-mail sdm2@bellsouth.net. For more information, contact the Office of Student Engagement at 256-765-4248.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.