UBC Undergraduate Research

UBC Enrolment Services & Financial Wellness Brassington, Cole; Lao, Janica; Merchant, Azhar; Omori, Chihiro; Wu, Hailey

Abstract

In January 2018, Team 1 set out to create a proposal plan for UBC Enrolment Services to increase engagement from domestic undergraduate students in order to better help them understand the importance of financial literacy and help them use the information available to them through enrolment services to succeed in their financial lives. Team 1 identified two key elements, current content and delivery, and came up with a proposal to reinvent Enrolment Services’ entire program on financial literacy and wellness. The results of our three month analysis are in the report below. About the Client- Enrolment Services strives to ensure students’ well being in several areas, one being financial wellness. If a student is facing unexpected financial distress, they are urged to contact their ESP (Enrolment Services Professional) who will help support them through their difficulties. In order to combat students being in a position of unexpected financial distress, Enrolment Services offers seminars and workshops both online and in person to equip students with skills to help them achieve financial stability. The two key elements Team 1 decided to focused on were: Content students want to learn about Effective form of delivery As such, we administered a survey, completed market research and carefully thought out the recommendations that will be presented in this report. Decision Making- It is evident from ES’ resources and wealth of knowledge and experience that there is great potential benefit to UBC students in terms of being educated on the topic of financial literacy and wellness. Team 1 focused on leveraging the strengths of UBC Enrolment Services to more effectively communicate information to all domestic undergraduate students at UBC. As stated earlier, we conducted research - one method we used was administering a survey to domestic undergraduate students from all faculties to find out what exactly they are lacking in terms of knowledge and what they are interested in learning. Furthermore, we asked them about preferred learning methods and preferred locations, which we put into consideration when making decisions. Team 1 proposes 5 different tactics which can help ES to succeed in their endeavours to educate students and equip them with the skills they need to succeed financially and achieve financial stability. We came up with tactics including augmented reality games, competitions and quizzes that would be more enjoyable for students and add a competitive feel to events to entice already existing UBC students. At the same time, we also proposed doing research on a different level by administering a survey to current university students and high school students who are interested in coming to UBC. This will give ES the summer months to look over their existing plan and make adjustments to cater to the incoming class. Team 1 has carefully considered the logistics and feasibility of each tactic and has outlined plans to bring these tactics to life below. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

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