CSULB is making it easier for students to manage money — and harder to feel alone
Amelia Mullen knows that times are tough on the pocketbook, especially for students. As a Cal State Long Beach peer financial wellness coach, she is helping her fellow students balance their budgets, learn about saving money and take advantage of campus resources, like Beach Pantry and emergency grants for housing.
“It’s a lot easier to talk to someone who has the same kind of money as you, the same kind of position as you,” said Mullen, a first-year psychology major who’s been trained through the new Peer Financial Wellness Coach program. “We’re trying to destigmatize struggles with money. Students all around are facing this. No one’s alone. There’s someone else going through the exact same thing as you.”
As part of a campuswide initiative, new financial literacy services are helping Beach students understand how to balance income vs. expenses, how to stretch their FAFSA refunds, how to save and invest money, and how to access free resources that are available to them. To date, hundreds of CSULB students have already interacted with these new programs.
“I saw the need for financial wellness literacy — our students really do need the support,” said Danielle Muñoz-Chanel, executive director of Student Care and Basic Needs. “We know that money is hard to manage as a student. But there are still ways to manage your money.”
Basic Needs has trained six CSULB students to coach other students to become more financially literate and empowered. The free, one-on-one sessions are occurring online and in person in the Academic Services building.
Basic Needs has also created an interactive game called Budget Beach, in which students spread coins across a board and learn about personal finance budgeting in 24 different categories. Made possible through a two-year Beach 2030 grant, the game has already proven popular among students.
In addition, Basic Needs has launched a MoneySmart Cart, sponsored by LBS Financial Credit Union. “We take a cart around campus and give students rides like a cash-cab concept, they are asked questions about financial literacy on the ride and get a prize at the end,” Muñoz-Chanel said. “We record it and put in on social media.” Prizes on the cart and for completing a coaching survey include $25 Beach Bucks vouchers.
Basic Needs has also organized info sessions in the College of Engineering, the College of Education and at the Dance Department. Earlier this month, “The Business of Being a Dancer: Financial Literacy for the Arts” featured four CSULB dance alumni who have found success as professional dancers, producers, studio owners, choreographers, Pilates instructors and social media consultants.
CSULB is part of an inaugural CSU-wide cohort of six campuses that are building out their financial wellness centers. Currently located in Academic Services alongside Guardian Scholars and Veterans Services, the future center will find a permanent home in the renovated University Student Union, expected to open in 2028.
Basic Needs is not the only entity on campus that has been supporting financial wellness this month. Alumni Relations has also been presenting a series of workshops called “Money Moves: Financial Skills for Students & Recent Grads.”
The sessions have included “Adulting 101: Credit, Budgeting & Money Basics”; an online meeting on building, using and protecting credit; and a virtual session from 5-6 tonight on “Saving for the Big Stuff: Cars, Travel, Homes & Life Goals.”
CSULB’s Black Resource Center has also presented a three-part workshop on financial wellness this academic year, organized by Tracy Kelly, interim assistant director of the center. Another workshop is available at any time online. “We’re trying to normalize the talking about our financial health and wellness within our community,” Kelly said.
Student coach Mullen said it’s great to see the new programs helping students, and no one should feel embarrassed about taking advantage of them.
“These things are here for us, and it’s important that we use them,” she said.
