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Vol 6, No 2 • Quality Improvement in Financial Management at the University of Washington • Spring/Summer 2007
cowhand
Click on photo above to view group photo

It all began in the waning sunlight of a San Antonio evening; and like many of the stories you may hear in these parts, it all started after one of those national conferences. The PDG/ Professional Development Conference to be exact. We were sitting around, sampling some quality Tex-Mex grub, relaxing with our fellow conference attendees; networking, real nice, like. I was sharing chow with the President of the Florida Association of Bursars and Student Accounts Administrators, or FABSAA. His name was Hiram Sem, and he hailed from the University of Miami. We were just sitting around, debriefing as the sun stated to set on that three day shindig, and he says to me, “I heard tell that you’ve got something special going on way out west, partner, and I think y’all might mosey on over to our neck of the woods and tell us how y’all do it. We got this show-down, this competition, you see, like the O.K. corral; except it’s colleges instead of cowboys, practices (best or otherwise) instead of guns…”

Well, it didn’t go down exactly like that; but that’s the gist of it.  Both Diane Cooley and I have spent the last few years as Student Fiscal Services (SFS) Outreach ambassadors to the world, traveling to national conferences showcasing the SFS Outreach program and how we are able to get our messages about financial literacy and UW financial responsibility out to the students. I met the President of FABSAA on one such occasion, at the PDG conference in San Antonio, Texas. SFS has long had ties with the Florida Bursars Association, which is well on its way to becoming a nationally know and renown organization. Hiram Sem had seen our presentation about SFS Outreach and was impressed by our ability and the methods we used to reach out to students. He suggested we enter the FABSAA Best Practices competition.

The FABSAA Best Practices competition is a yearly event, open to institutions of Higher Learning across the country. There are three categories: Best Practices in Public Institutions, Best Practices in Private Institutions and Best Practices in Community Colleges. We entered the Best Practices for Public Institutions. The entries are reviewed by the FABSAA Executive Board, which draws it membership from high level officials in various Bursar and Student Account Offices. We were being judged by a panel of our peers and the people who were managing our peers.

We were directed to outline the problem we were addressing and solving in abstract and real life terms.  Then we were to indicate how we combated the stated problem, laying out both the design and implementation of the solution. We were looking at different gaps in the financial literacy of our students and customers. We laid out the programs we had created and coordinated to combat the difficulties students may encounter: Money 101 & 102, Managing the UW Financial Maze, and the student tax classes. We talked about maintaining contact and partnerships with various members of the university community and, in particular, the academic advisers who talk directly to students. We outlined how the Outreach unit itself was developed. A link to our initial proposal can be found here:

I:\groups\sfs\outreach\FABSAA
Under “proposal07.ppt”

We were honored when we were awarded FABSAA Best Practices for Public Institutions 2007 for our “Financial Literacy” programs.  The Award consisted of a $1000 check for the UW general scholarship fund and the opportunity to present our winning PowerPoint at the conference.

Our East Coast colleagues were very interested in the ways we’ve managed to teach our students and customers about financial literacy while educating those same student and customers about different ways they can manage their own business. They were impressed by the high number of students we are able to reach during freshman orientation (over 5,000) and the fact that SFS is able to devote two full time staff members to Outreach work exclusively.  Not only were able to highlight our successes, but we got to receive a “really big check” for $1,000 on behalf of the University of Washington’s general scholarship fund! A link to our PowerPoint presentation can be found at:

I:\groups\sfs\outreach\FABSAA
Under Outreach-FABSAA.ppt

So get on little doggies; SFS Outreach is blazing that financial literacy trail! Yee Haw!