We share a vision of better informed, educated and more confident citizens, able to take greater responsibility for their financial affairs Our work

 

Higher education

Higher Education: Money Doctors

Financial difficulties are a main contributor to reduced academic performance and to students leaving their courses.

The Money Doctors project helps students in higher education become financially confident and competent though education and intervention.  It encourages students to take control of their own finances before they get into difficulties.  We deliver the project through student money advisors at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the UK, and we work with these intermediaries to support them in proactively improving their students' financial capability.

"More and more of our students are thinking about money issues such as debt early on rather than leaving them until they get out of control."
Money Doctor, University of York.

The Money Doctors project aims to:

    • Equip Student Money Advisers with the skills to proactively educate students and encourage preventative actions.
    • Encourage students to take responsibility for their finances.
    • Increase student confidence so that they are better equipped to deal with future financial issues – and achieve financial capability for life.

    Project background

    We began the project in 2005 at Roehampton University to develop new and proactive approaches to engage students to take control of their finances and confront debt problems. The project produced a toolkit with an educational resource and a practical guide to setting up the programme, including sample business cases for universities to use to secure allocation of funding for the work, setting-out the benefits for widening participation, retention and employability.

    During 2006/2007, a FSA team of Higher Education specialists worked with 19 institutions acting as 'Early Developers' of the project, who combined their own experiences with the Roehampton model and adapted it for their own institutions.  By gathering their good practice, evaluation and conclusions, we developed a comprehensive Money Doctors Toolkit.  The toolkit and a Money Doctors game were sent to all 168 Higher Education Institutions across the UK.

    In the 2007/2008 academic year, we recruited a further 33 HEIs to act as ‘Early Adopters’ of the Money Doctors toolkit, and developed a support network with regional meetings, training events, an online forum and a buddy system. (Two of the original Early Developer universities were unable to continue with the project, but have remained Friends of the project).

    In June 2008 we published ‘Graduating with Financial Capability’ (see separate section) which looks at the benefits of the project as well as the challenges faced by the Money Doctor universities in delivering proactive financial support and education to students. It also contains the results of the first formal assessment of the project.

    And more recently

    We have continued to recruit new universities to the Money Doctors project, and there are now 82 HEIs participating in the project for the 2009/2010 academic year. As the project evolves we’re continuing to develop the support we offer to Money Doctors universities, and raise the profile of financial capability within HEIs at a national level.