Alleviating Students’ Financial Stress: Oregon State University’s Center for Advancing Financial Education’s (OSU CAFE’s) Peer Mentor Program
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Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance (HEFWA)
Oregon State University’s (OSU) Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE) launched in March 2020 as a free service providing financial education within the OSU community and across Oregon. CAFE leadership and staff are involved in several state- and university-wide financial wellness initiatives, in addition to providing one-on-one advising, presentations, and workshops.
One of CAFE’s major successes and the heart and soul of CAFE is the Peer Mentor Program, which hires and trains OSU students to meet with their peers and their peers’ families on all things paying-for-college and budgeting. Over the last 3 years, the program has grown in staffing and the number of clients served – from a team of 2 serving 100 students in one-on-one appointments during the first academic year, to a team of 9 with a realistic goal of serving 1,500 students and families in the ’23-’24 academic year.
The CAFE Peer Mentors are an integral part of educating all students, including those incoming, on the cost of college and how to create a college financial plan.
In this session, you will learn about:
The evolution of CAFE and the role we play in the OSU ecosystem;
The structure of CAFE’s Peer Mentor Program: the details of initial and ongoing training, what Peer Mentors cover in a one-on-one advising appointments and workshops, and challenges and opportunities;
Proactive steps OSU and CAFE have taken to support students early in their financial success.
higher education, financial wellness
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