Author: Lauren Rewers
The Financial Aid Office instituted the SALT program – a web service that provides education regarding about budgets, loans and repayment systems – on Nov. 6. The program is open for registration to all current students and alumni to access.
Run by the American Students Association, SALT is a non-profit service designed to consult students on their finances. The college pays an annual fee that allows students and alumni to create an account with the site. The membership in turn enables students to access articles, videos, infographics and comics about a range of financial topics including career searches, car loans, college debt and credit cards.
In addition to its online education component, SALT has experts available every day of the week for account members to contact via phone. They can answer questions about SALT’s content or discuss personal finance goals. In extreme cases, the SALT employee can support the member while they are on the phone with their lender.
“SALT will be there to be the bridge between the lender and the student,” Senior Assistant Director of Financial Aid Gina Becerril said.
Director of Financial Aid Maureen McRae became aware of the need for basic finance education at the college during the past few years. According to McRae, there is a trend of financial illiteracy among young adults because less of them work and budget during high school. When they graduate from college, they find themselves unable to handle their school loans.
“We want students to be aware of a pitfall that they may fall into because it’s become a national issue, and we want to be proactive rather than reactive,” she said.
The average amount of debt per student at Occidental upon graduation is around $25,000, which is less than the national average for private liberal arts schools, according to McRae.
Even so, the Financial Aid Office is not staffed to teach students about financial tools in an in-depth manner. Currently the only education is done online for those with a financial aid package before matriculating to the college and upon graduation. Although the office does offer one-on-one appointments with Becerril to discuss individual students’ loans, few meetings actually take place.
“Fortunately students defaulting their loans isn’t a big issue here on campus, but I think educating students about loans and being proactive about repayment programs and learning how to manage their money is important,” Becerril said.
In addition to current students, the financial aid office also hopes to involve alumni – especially Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) – in the program. The alumni will receive an additional notice from the college in addition to the same initial email as current students.
“An advantage of a program like SALT is three or four years from now, you’ll be able to log onto the system and find what is of interest of you,” McRae said.
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