On March 1, Quinnipiac’s Micro Course Initiative (MCI) hosted Money School — a one credit course designed to teach students and members of the surrounding community financial education and skills.
The event hosted close to 30 participants and was led by sociology professor and director of MCI, Keith Kerr. It provided participants with in person workshops discussing topics such as saving, spending and debt. The event also allowed students and community members to speak with professionals on important financial topics.
As Money School commenced with icebreakers and light chatter, several students discussed how with lack of knowledge of the course, they decided to sign up for Money School in order to fulfill a credit. However in doing so, they hoped to learn something new about their financial endeavors.
“I’m hoping to gain more financial knowledge because I’m not really knowledgeable about the topic,” said first-year law and society major Aishe Asani. I definitely will use it for things like future income and whatnot, just like better understanding taxes.”
Kerr began by discussing the inspiration behind Money School, as well as the origin story of his course and how he got there.
“Back in 2020, I was doing work inside Connecticut prisons,” Kerr said. “I was looking one morning trying to find out more financial stuff to talk to my seniors about, and decided I was going to come up on campus because I needed to get some stuff in my office. So I snuck on and I found a stack of letters. In that stack of letters were two letters that had been written by guys that I was teaching on the inside, and both of the letters were saying, ‘Can you please offer us basic financial education? We need it here.’”
Kerr elaborated on his work in Connecticut prisons and why he believes there’s a huge need within enforcement populations for basic financial advice. His efforts working in these settings eventually flourished into Money School.
“I built the very first course I ran inside Connecticut prisons during 2020 that eventually developed into a three credit course that I run here on campus. This semester, I figured, why not try to run a one day event that students could get credit for, that ACT comes in and actually delivers themselves,” Kerr said.
The discussion followed various topics as Kerr went on to explain his agenda and what he hoped to accomplish in hosting this event.
“I just want to offer a space and a time where people can get some messages that are important for everybody,” Kerr said. “Basic financial sorts of information are going to be very, very important to help protect wealth, help to grow wealth, and for most people in America, simply to make ends meet in a given month so they can pay their bills and get their kids taken care of and whatnot.”
Community member and English professor at Gateway Community College, Mary Walsh explained how she too understands the importance of basic financial knowledge. After initially discovering the event on the Hamden Patch, Walsh explains how she chose to attend Money School in hopes of broadening her knowledge on the subject
“Business knowledge is so valuable today that I thought, you know, it’d be good for me to just kind of get over here to see what Keith had to say,” Walsh said.
Elaborating on the simplicity of understanding financial information, Kerr shared an anecdote he had in Urban Outfitters.
“I was in Urban Outfitters and they had this book, probably two inches thick, and it was called ‘The Complete Guide to Weight Loss,’” Kerr said. “All that was printed across the middle was eat less, move more, and if you think about how complicated we try to make dieting, it really all comes down to that. And at the end of the day, anybody can learn basic finance, because it comes down to, how do I spend less money and save more of it? And it’s that simple.”
Later in the event Orlando Marquez, ACT volunteer money coach and Director of Lending and Deposits for Cencap Federal Credit Union, spoke to students in attendance. He led a discussion about secured and unsecured credit.
Kerr also points out how all there is to understanding financial information is people thinking about it and talking about it, and that the earlier you start doing so the greater chance you have. Kerr then closes by sharing some words of wisdom for participants to remember.
“It’s never too late to start practicing good, sound, financial sorts of actions with the money that one has,” Kerr said.
