Bateman Plan

Situation Analysis
The need for fnancial education is

evident both nationally and locally. People
in the 18- to 24-age bracket spend nearly
30 percent of their monthly income just on
debt repayment - double the percentage
spent in 1992. And of the 5,775 high school
seniors who took the Jump$tart personal
fnance test in 2006, 62 percent received
failing scores.
From our survey, we found that 68 percent
of respondents havent taken a course in
fnancial literacy; more than 50 percent
rarely prepare a monthly budget, and 52
percent dont have a credit card.
Problem Statement
Students at the University of Wisconsin
Oshkosh lack rudimentary fnancial skills.
Step 1: Research
Primary Research
A 34-question survey on the website Survey
Monkey was distributed to all students at
UW Oshkosh via the daily campus-wide
e-mails. The survey was also directed to:
The Multicultural Education Coalition
and its representing organizations
presidents
Faculty and staff
The e-mail list for the Adult
Nontraditional Student Resource offce
Journalism Department faculty
Our four personal Facebook and
Twitter pages
There were 258 respondents.
We conducted a focus group session for
traditional students. Each participant was
the person responsible for managing his or
her own fnances or household fnances.
We also conducted an in-depth interview
with a nontraditional student to gain that
perspective.
Survey Results:
The results indicated that a majority of
respondents had never taken a course,
class or workshop on fnancial literacy.
Our survey evaluated student knowledge
regarding credit cards, budget, and
fnances. Most respondents were able to
calculate how long it would take them to
pay off a balance on a credit card by only
paying the minimum payment.
Also, students knew that when applying for
a credit card, they should primarily
consider the annual percentage rate, fees
and rewards.

However, when asked about
budgeting topics, students
were less likely to answer
Make Cents of Your finanCes: Pennies add uP
1

correctly. When asked, How much should
an individual save in an emergency fund?
more than 35 percent of respondents
chose two months, which is incorrect. The
correct response is six months worth of
living expenses.
Therefore, we decided to focus the
sessions on what the majority of
respondents did not know, rather than
what they knew.
Focus Group - Traditional Students:
Participants frst completed a questionnaire
regarding their demographic information.
After an introduction, they were debriefed
so they knew what was expected during
the session.
An equal number of males and females
between the ages of 18 and 24 who have
fnancial aid and are full-time students
participated in the traditional student focus
group. They said they would prefer sessions
that were around 60- or 90-minutes long
and held Monday through Friday after 4
p.m.
The students said they would need to know
how they would beneft from the sessions
before they would attend them.
The respondents wanted to learn
information that would help them after
graduation, including information about
credit cards, budgeting, fnancial aid, loan
repayment, taxes, and savings.
They indicated that they have gotten most
of their information about fnances from
their parents, coursework or online.
Interview - Nontraditional Student:
One female student over the age of 24
provided feedback during the
nontraditional student interview. She
indicated that she would be willing to sit in
educational fnancial literacy sessions for
one to two hours at a time.
She also said that she would be interested
in learning about savings, debt repayment,
and investments.
Application of Research Findings:
Through this research, we discovered
information on how to attract students to
the educational sessions and what
information they would prefer to learn.
Therefore, we focused the sessions on
budget and credit, as well as special
topics that relate specifcally to college
students.
Secondary Research
Most of the secondary sources
focused on two main points:
what people know about
making good fnancial
decisions and how successful
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fnancial education is at helping people
make good choices.
Additionally, we collected information on
racial and gender differences in fnancial
literacy.
For example, a study conducted at Texas
A&M University surveyed college freshmen
to determine their level of fnancial literacy.
It showed that 92 percent of the students
being tested failed an exam based on
common fnancial issues. The average
score for students was 34.8 percent.
Another study revealed a similar lack of
knowledge among specifc groups of
students. It showed that women,
nonbusiness majors, undergraduate
students, African-American students and
foreign students had a lower level of
fnancial literacy.
Therefore, we designed targeted
messages for these groups. For example,
the UW Oshkosh campus has an
organization that promotes cultural
diversity, the Multicultural Education
Coalition (MEC). We were able to use the
MECs contact list to notify target
audiences that included students of a
variety of ethnic backgrounds.
Additionally, we targeted undergraduate
students because the research indicated
that teaching fnancial literacy was most
effective to a younger age bracket. We
found that, in support of this idea, the Boys
& Girls Club of Oshkosh has implemented
a fnancial education program for their
participants. To tie into the clients social
responsibility, we decided to incorporate
support of this program into our campaign.
Step 2-3: Planning
and Execution
Campaign Goal
Empower people between the ages of 18
and 30 with basic information by
promoting fnancial literacy.
Rationale:
Students will take out loans and
establish lines of credit while in college and
be expected to make payments in a timely
manner.
Most research showed that college
students of all ages were unaware of how
to build a budget and were unable to
answer questions about everyday fnancial
topics.
Students between the ages of 18 and 30
would most likely have student loans or
would have to consider building their
credit scores if they have not already.
Campaign Theme
Our slogan Make Cents of Your Finances
and tagline Pennies Add Up included a
play on words in connection with
Presidents Day.
We wanted to include a memorable and
eye-catching phrase that was
straightforward. When spoken, Make
Cents of Your Finances implies that people
attending the educational
sessions would be able to
further understand their
fnances. In written form, the
slogan incorporates the cents
3
symbol () in the social media to
encourage the viewer to connect money
with the topics of the educational sessions.
We chose Pennies Add Up as a tagline
to highlight that learning about fnances
could help with budgeting and using
money effciently, even for a person with a
limited income.
The educational sessions began the week
of Presidents Day. To acknowledge the
holiday and our former presidents, we
incorporated coin images of Washington,
Lincoln and other presidents as part of the
theme.
We included a fundraiser for the Boys &
Girls Club of Oshkosh into the campaign.
At promotional tables and sessions, we
asked people to donate pennies to the
Boys & Girls Club fnancial literacy classes,
called Money Matters. This accomplished
two purposes: it drew people to the
promotional table and it was compatible
with the clients social responsibility.
Campaign Logo:
The campaign logo was based on the
tagline Pennies Add Up. Piggy banks are
often the frst savings tool that young
children are introduced to. Using a picture
that is a common symbol of savings
re-enforced the purpose of educating
people on how to be more fnancially
aware. We used this idea to display
pennies adding up
within a
transparent piggy
bank for the logo.
The sunglasses
worn by the piggy
bank is a subliminal
message that
saving money is
cool and you can
save for a goal, such as a spring break trip.
Objectives
Objective 1: Hold a minimum of
fve fnancial literacy sessions to
reach a minimum of 150 UW Oshkosh
students and Oshkosh residents by
March 8, 2011.
Strategy 1: Create tailored topics
for informative sessions based on the
preferences indicated during
research.
Rationale:
Having credit and budgeting topics as the
only topics of discussion for each session
may not interest all students. During the
research, we found that students are
interested in learning about loan
repayment, fnancial aid,
savings, and taxes in addition
to credit and budgeting.
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Tactics:
1. Hand out information pertaining to loan
repayments, how to consolidate loans
and what types of loans exist to
attendees of the loan repayment
session, in addition to the presentation
and workbook provided by the client.
(See Appendix E)
2. Distribute information pertaining to tax
preparation, free assistance and 2011
tax return due dates to attendees of the
taxes session, in addition to the
presentation and workbook provided by
the client. (See Appendix H)
Strategy 2: Inform campus
community of the time and
location of the free, educational
sessions about fnancial literacy via
online communications.
Tactics:
1. Send mass e-mail to all students on
campus. (See Appendix O)
2. Distribute customized e-mail for Adult
Nontraditional Student Resource offce.
(See Appendix O)
3. E-mail the MEC and presidents of
Inter-Tribal Student Union, Asian Student
Association, Black Student Union,
Students of Latino and Hmong Student
Union to invite their members to the
sessions. (See Appendix O)
4. E-mail the UW Oshkosh Department of
Residence Life. (See Appendix O)
5. Send information to UW Oshkosh
organizations and clubs through
OrgSync. (See Appendix O)
on-campus promotion.
Tactics:
1. Design and set up display cases in
Reeve Memorial Union, Polk Library and
Scott Residence Hall, the on-campus
buildings with the highest student traffc.
(See Appendix R)
2. Design and set up a bulletin board
display in Clow Social Sciences Center,
the most-used classroom building on
campus. (See Appendix R)
3. Create a display for a promotional table
in the student union, during prime lunch
hours on three different days. (See
Appendix R)
4. Hang posters throughout
campus. (See Appendix N)
5. Distribute handbills to
students at promotional
table and in classrooms.
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(See Appendix N)
6. Display information about the
educational sessions on CampusVision,
a televised PowerPoint on a 10-minute
loop, located in the student union,
student commons, Scott Residence Hall,
Student Recreation and Wellness Center
and Admissions Offce lobby. (See
Appendix N)
7. Send memo to Journalism Department
faculty asking them to share information
about the sessions. (See Appendix N)
8. E-mail residence hall community
advisers the materials for bulletin boards
to display during the month of March.
(See Appendix N)
social media.
Tactics:
1. Create and maintain Twitter page. (See
Appendix L)
2. Create and maintain Facebook fan
page. (See Appendix L)
off-campus promotion.
Tactics:
1. Distribute posters about the educational
sessions to downtown
Oshkosh business locations,
the Oshkosh Public Library
and the First Presbyterian
Church. (See Appendix N)
6
2. E-mail Vue Thao, executive director of
the City of Oshkosh Hmong Service
center. (See Appendix O)
3. E-mail Oshkosh community centers,
including Father Carrs Place 2B (a
non-proft that serves the homeless),
the Oshkosh Area Community Pantry,
and the Christine Ann Domestic Abuse
Services center. (See Appendix O)
Strategy 6: Seek out professionals to
moderate sessions.
Rationale:
Guest presenters will be benefcial
because our research showed that
students thought professionals would be
more credible. Additionally, we knew that
people with teaching experience would
be able to explain the presentation more
clearly.
Tactics:
1. Invite professionals to present the credit
and budget topics to the student
participants.
UW Oshkosh College of Business
professors, Dr. Jeff LaVake and Dr. Cliff Moll,
each moderated a session.
We asked Dr. LaVake because of his
real-life experience in the banking world
and how he could relate the situations to
the information being presented.
We asked Dr. Moll because of his
experience as a personal fnance teacher
to articulate the credit and budget topics
to attendees in a way they would
understand.
We asked Beatriz Contreras, director of the
UW Oshkosh Financial Aid Offce, because
she is the foremost expert regarding the
fnancial aid process on campus.
Strategy 7: Seek out opportunities
to collaborate with organizations.
Tactics:
1. Reeve Union Board: help us plan a
session for its members, and provide
promotional tools and supplies.
2. Titan Volunteers: provide free
babysitting services for students with
children so they could attend the
sessions.
3. UW Oshkosh College of Business:
arrange for two professors to moderate
two of the sessions.
4. Adult Nontraditional Student Resource
offce: send targeted messages to
nontraditional students and display
posters in the offce.
5. UW Oshkosh Financial Aid Offce:
arrange for the director to moderate
one of the sessions.
6. Northeast Wisconsin Public Relations
Society of America chapter: ask for a
monetary contribution.
Strategy 8: Hold sessions in a variety
of locations to reach diverse
audiences.
Tactics:
1. Hold four sessions in Reeve Memorial
Union because it is in the center of
campus and is a high-traffc
area for both students and
Oshkosh residents, because
many community events
7
are held there.
2. Hold one session in the Oshkosh Public
Library in order to better reach Oshkosh
residents.
3. Hold one session in the Clow Social
Sciences Center because it is the
most-used classroom building on
campus.
4. Hold one session in Halsey Science
Center because many science classes
are concentrated there.
5. Live-tweet sessions presented by
professionals.
Objective 2: At least 75 percent of
attendees will be able to answer
basic fnancial questions correctly.
Strategy 1: Hold free, customized,
educational sessions regarding
fnancial topics.
Tactics:
1. Hold at least fve sessions using various
formats. In two of these sessions,
distribute additional information about
loan repayment and taxes.
2. Post informative tweets on Twitter
including links to various websites for tips
on fnancial topics.
3. Post Facebook updates that include
additional information about topics
presented at sessions, including videos.
4. Use the presentation and workbooks
provided by the client to educate
individuals on the topics of credit and
budget.
Objective 3: Collect 5,000 pennies
for the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkoshs
fnancial education program.
Strategy 1: Provide a simple
method for people to donate their
pennies and other change.
Tactics:
1. Display a collection jar at the
promotional table in Reeve Memorial
Union on three different days to attract
students to learn more
about the sessions and to
donate to the local
fnancial literacy program.
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2. Display a collection jar for students
entering fnancial literacy sessions and
mention the cause in the introductions
to the sessions.
Step 4: Evaluation
Objective 1: Hold a minimum of
fve fnancial literacy sessions to
reach a minimum of 150 UW Oshkosh
students and Oshkosh residents by
March 8, 2011.
Objective achieved
A total of 165 people were willing to share
their names and addresses with our group.
(We did not include a count of the
attendees who listed only their name on
the attendance sheets.)
Objective 2: At least 75 percent
of attendees will be able to answer
basic fnancial questions correctly at
the end of each session.
Objective - mixed results
Three questions met our objective and one
did not.
Question 1: 75 percent answered correctly.
Question 4: What forms of fnancial aid will
you have to repay after graduation?
69 percent answered correctly.
Objective 3: Collect 5,000 pennies
for the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkoshs
fnancial education program.
Objective achieved
We collected 5,132 pennies to donate to
the program.
Budget
The campaign came in under budget, with
$172.70 out of $300 spent and $984.00 out
of $1,000 collected via in-kind donations.
(See Appendix C)
Unforeseen Challenges
and Opportunities
Challenges
It was diffcult for us to geographically
target low- to middle-income households
within the city of Oshkosh, because the
majority of households fall into these
categories.
We found from several sources that there
are many different defnitions of low- and
middle-income households. A low-income
household is most commonly defned as
less than $25,000. Middle-income
households can range from $26,000 to
up to $100,000. According to a 2005-2009
American Community Survey, it is
estimated that 28 percent of households in
Oshkosh are low-income, and 61.5 percent
of households are middle-income.
UW Oshkosh is a small campus
of about 13,000 students, and
Oshkosh itself is small
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community of about 64,000 residents,
making the goal of reaching 150 people
more challenging than in larger
communities and campuses.
Based on previous events for students, we
found that students enjoy free items or
give-a-ways, so it was diffcult to attract
them to sessions without being able to offer
something in return, such as food or prizes.
In an attempt to reach a niche audience,
we tried to organize a class for soon-to-be
released inmates from the Oshkosh
Correctional Institution. We identifed it as
an opportunity to give the inmates the skills
needed to manage their fnances.
However, we were not able to meet the
rules and regulations required by the
institution to offer a session.
The accounting fraternity and an
accounting professor who specializes in
taxes were approached to teach the tax
session. They were unable to because of
the current tax preparation season.
We contacted individual minority group
organizations around campus. It was an
opportunity to further reach the target
audience. However, it was a challenge
because only 5 percent of UW Oshkosh
students belong to a minority group.
Opportunity
The campaign occurred during the
controversy that was generated by the
proposed Wisconsin Budget Reform Bill.
More than one rally took place on
campus, along with many meetings and
open forums on the issue.
We used this to our advantage, especially
in our social media, by becoming a
resource on the Bill by providing links to
information and frequently asked
questions.
We also shared where to view the bill and
how it could affect us as students and the
community, as Oshkosh has a higher than
usual number of public employees due to
the university and prison.
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