Last week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday ASUW hosted the third annual Debt Week.
Throughout the three days, various speakers held presentations and representatives from banks and credit unions spoke on behalf of their organizations. The goal of the program was to help students become more financially informed.
Although some events had fairly low turnouts, the highlight of the week was the foundational money challenges presentation by Rachel Cruze.
“On average, the turnout for events was 15 to 20 individuals per breakout session,” ASUW Director of Finance Chris Haakinson said. “However, on Thursday night for the Rachel Cruze Speaking Engagement, the turnout was awesome. Approximately 100 individuals came to the presentation and had great things to say about it. In fact, individuals would like Rachel Cruze back again next year.”
Another program that was well received was the investing presentation. According to Haakinson, the investing and money management topics were what students wanted to learn most about.
Along with others running debt week, Haakinson had attendees provide feedback through an evaluation form. Based on these evaluations, the program was deemed successful because of attendance and the audience wanted to learn more about the specific presentations.
In prior years, debt week has not been as extensive as spanning across three days. Aside from the turnout, nothing could have been better according to Haakinson.
“This is the first year that this event has gone so in depth before. Usually this event is just the main speaker,” Haakinson said. “I think by doing this event through three days, we are able to see what students would like for the future and what they don’t want for the future.”
In the future, Haakinson hopes that Debt Week will continue with a similar schedule over multiple days. He wants the presentations and events to be geared towards what students want to learn about. Haakinson is writing a report based on the evaluations that will be given to the next ASUW Director of Finance.
“I am hoping that this report provides insight to the next person in this position,” Haakinson said. “I really want to provide insight so that this kind of program only grows from here.”
