Back to School with Wallis Wallet!

Patrick Hennessey | I am an alumnus of the University of Rochester, and I've worked in the Financial Aid Office as both a student worker and now a financial aid counselor. While at the University I was an English major, history minor, and also was involved with Greek Life. When I'm not slaving away over a hot keyboard, I'm usually at home writing, reading historical fiction and non-fiction, and playing my guitar.

August 28, 2014

Welcome back to Rochester for the new school year! Or if you’re a freshman just joining the family, welcome to Rochester! We’re so happy to have students back on campus, and are excited for another great year living the Meliora life.

If you will be attending the Job Fair on Friday, August 29 from 10:00 am–1:00 pm in the May Room, feel free to stop by and visit us at our Financial Literacy table! We’d be happy to see you. 🙂

As you’re acclimating back to school, we’d like to remind you of an awesome resource the Financial Aid Office has to offer: our Financial Literacy program! You can look for our mascot, Wallis Wallet, to identify resources for financial literacy. Wallis Wallet loves to educate students about budgeting and smart spending. He wants you to succeed at Rochester and beyond, managing your money well on a day-to-day basis!

Here’s a brief overview of some of the sweet financial literacy resources at Rochester:

The website: Visit our website to learn more about financial literacy at Rochester. Our site also highlights a few handy apps and websites for saving and managing your money.
Financial Avenue: If you haven’t checked out this resource yet, I’d recommend you get on it, stat! Financial Avenue has tons of courses and quizzes that’ll teach you to be financially savvy. It contains loads of important info that will help you with real life stuff, like budgeting, credit cards, identity theft, your first job, and more! To log in, just use the Rochester access code, 967fbf.
The blog: Our blog discusses relevant financial literacy topics on a monthly basis. We’ve covered everything from cheap summer activities to thrifty Valentine’s Day dates! Check it out each month for fun and interesting ideas for living on a budget.
Twitter: The Financial Aid Office is on Twitter! Follow us @URFinAid for outside scholarship deadlines, financial literacy blogs and articles, and smart spending tips every week on #ThriftyThursday!

So enjoy your first few weeks back at Rochester (or settling in for your first year!), and be sure to keep financial literacy in mind as you’re getting adjusted again. Getting into the habit of budgeting and smart spending from the get-go will set the tone for a great school year!