SMC Partners With Bank of America on Financial Literacy Initiative

The Office of Financial Aid Services at Saint Mary’s College and Bank of America’s (BofA) Better Money Habits program have partnered on a new educational initiative aimed at making students at the College more financially savvy. “Our Gael Financial Wellness Program is designed to aid and educate students to make certain they understand and develop solid financial habits to make wise financial choices while in school and beyond,” said Dean of Financial Aid Wilbert Lleses. 

Established in 2013, Better Money Habits is a financial education collaboration between BofA and Khan Academy that provides consumers with free, self-paced, easy-to-understand resources, in both English and Spanish, to help them develop better financial habits. Available resources for Saint Mary’s students will include engaging how-to video content on the Better Money Habits website and planned, in-person workshops and presentations with BofA community volunteers on financial literacy concerns such as navigating household and personal budgets while in college, and management of credit card debt and student loans.

The new BofA—SMC collaboration is significant, as it is the first time the bank has partnered with an institution of higher education in the Bay Area. Notably, the partnership also appears to be the result of a bit of Gael-influenced providence: Daniel Araujo ’20, a financial aid intern, sent an inquiry email to the bank’s general inbox a few months ago, which led to an unlikely development.

“He essentially sent a general info email somewhere and said ‘Hi, do you provide any assistance with financial literacy to college students?’ And it went from wherever it was in cyberspace and somehow landed in my office,” said BofA Senior Vice President for Community Engagement Heidi Huynh Racherla ’95.

The email could not have landed in more receptive hands. Unbeknownst to Lleses at the time, Racherla is also a member of the School of Liberal Arts advisory board, was an English major when she attended SMC, and holds Saint Mary’s in high regard. Racherla has over 20 years’ experience in the banking industry and joined Bank of America in 2001, where her responsibilities include enterprise business and community engagement leadership for San Francisco and the East Bay.

While a student-centered financial literacy effort clearly falls in her professional community-engagement wheelhouse, the Gael Financial Wellness project is personal to her, said Racherla, who was a first generation to college student at Saint Mary’s. “Well, I just tell people in all frankness, I had zero skills at Saint Mary’s from a finance perspective. I had the ATM of Mom and Dad, and knew nothing else. And so, going back into that mind-set and recognizing that these students may need a forum where they can ask safe questions, sometimes even silly questions—we’ve all been there.” 

Coinciding with April’s Financial Capabilities’ Month, the first in the planned series of Gael Financial Wellness workshops takes place on Wednesday, April 10, at Community Time, 1 p.m., in Galileo Hall, Room 201. Racherla, along with a group of Better Money Habits Champions (BofA community volunteers), will participate in a presentation followed by a Q&A session.

Racherla said that students may be surprised that in addition to addressing financial literacy concerns such as protecting your credit score, navigating loans, saving, and investing, the workshop will also focus on how to avoid scammers that prey on young people in college.

Lleses agreed, adding that the advantage of the new partnership is that “Whatever topic we bring to our students, it will be beneficial to them, either right then and there, or they will be using the workshop guidance in the future. Our goal is to advance financial wellness for students overall and especially ensure that they are not burdened with significant debt with the potential of impeding their lives after graduation.”