KNKX Features New Financial Wellness Center fulfilling student needs and answering questions

The University of Washington Tacoma's Milgard School of Business has opened the first-of-its-kind Financial Wellness Center, aimed at offering financial literacy and investment advice to students and the community. The center's workshops cover a range of topics, from the difference between banks and credit unions to investing in the stock market.



The center's directors Hui Suk So and Fei Leng believe it's programming that could be really meaningful for students' lives, helping them avoid common financial pitfalls, manage risk, and generate wealth. The center includes a Financial Wellness Lab equipped with a stock ticker showing real-time financial data and Bloomberg Terminals for students to monitor and analyze financial data and trade on the stock market. Dean of the Milgard School of Business, Altaf Merchant, believes the programming will change how students think and talk about money, as well as support them beyond graduation.



The 2019 survey of the University of Washington students across the system found that approximately 20% of students are facing food and housing insecurity, making the consequences of making financial mistakes very dire for them. Kevin Dugan, a UW Tacoma business school administrator, stated that many students are working full-time jobs while raising their families and attending school, making the center's financial literacy programming vital for them.