'Personal Finance' enrollment rises

By Jesse Rangel

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Like precious coins diligently saved in a piggy bank, enrollment in “Personal Finance” at the University continues to grow.

This fall, enrollment in the course has grown to 145 students with others still on the waiting list, up from 100 students last semester, said Bill Lewis, who teaches the class.

The course, first offered in 2007, gives students a look into topics such as loans, credit cards and personal investments.

Lewis said the class offered a unique opportunity for students pursuing a degree in business or finance: learning how to take care of their own money.

“We always teach people how to take care of other people’s money,” Lewis said. “In this course we’re truly trying to teach you how you can take care of yourself and your own money.”

Lewis said the course had not changed to accommodate the economic downturn. Rather, he said he focused on financial fundamentals for his course.

“The fundamentals are still the same for your finances,” Lewis said. “What you need to do is understand them so you’ll know exactly where you are in that mix. The basics that we’re teaching, the fundamentals, work in whatever the economy is.”

Lewis said his class prepared students to know where their cash flows were coming from and where their expenses were going. He said students who could do that were “better able to miss out from some of the pain and anguish that people are experiencing” because of the economy.

Scott Mitchell, Wichita graduate student and one of Lewis’ teaching assistants, said the course helped students prepare for a wide range of financial issues.

“This kind of gives students a leg up when they graduate, about the things they are going to face financially,” Mitchell said.

Ashley Clayton, Basehor freshman, said she enrolled in the course and put her money in a savings account to try to stay financially fit.

“I don’t think a lot of students know how to spend their money wisely going into college,” Clayton said. “I’m saving a lot of my money. I worked a lot over the summer, and that’s going toward school and books. I have a very little fund for my ‘fun’ money.”

The course is now open to students pursuing any major, Lewis said. He said having juniors and seniors offered a benefit to the course.

“They appreciate it,” Lewis said. “The juniors and seniors have been through a lot of these problems that we bring up in class, and we’re telling the freshmen/sophomores, they can add to the class.”

Lewis said juniors and seniors who enrolled in a portion of “Finance” would also create a mock investment portfolio starting with $100,000. He said the class was important for any college student to get the most out of college.

“You’re going to school to give yourself a better standard of living, a better life,” Lewis said. “And if you don’t watch your own finances, or understand how to operate your own finances, you might not have a lot of benefit that you hoped to have.”

— — Edited by Lauren Cunningham

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