UCSC’s financial literacy program, SlugCents, is launching a survey measuring how the campus program affects persistence and retention on campus. A request to take the survey will be sent to all frosh and new transfer students through the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Policy Studies.
The triage survey is part of a module pilot program from FoolProof, a nonprofit financial education platform. SlugCents already partners with FoolProof to provide online financial literacy modules for students. This new pilot program is a longitudinal pilot consisting of two surveys over two years.
The first triage survey, launching on October 5th, identifies students at risk of withdrawing from school due to finances. Students who report financial pressures on the survey will receive automated FoolProof module recommendations based on their survey responses. Modules recommended include credit cards, fraud, renting, and money habits.
A second triage survey will launch in the second year of the pilot program. The students that participated in the first survey will take a second identical survey. Students will take this second survey at the end of their second year at UCSC. The data from the second survey will be compared to the data from the first to measure SlugCents’ effectiveness and the program’s connection to persistence and retention rates.
Financial pressure is the number one reason students leave school before completing their degree, according to the Center for Public Education. Financial pressures include lack of financial support, uncertainty surrounding the cost of education and financial aid, inability to take on loans, and more.
SlugCents opened in June 2020 and has already worked with over 900 students through workshops and individual coaching. This survey will allow SlugCents to better understand the needs of students and provide relevant future programming to relieve student financial pressures.
More information on the pilot program and survey, including confidentiality information, can be found on the SlugCents’ webpage.
