SMMC News & Events

University of Illinois Saves Competition

Financial literacy has become a substantial topic during these hard economic times, with subjects like savings, credit, and budgeting at the forefront.  Saving, in particular, can be a difficult but necessary component of healthy financial behavior and we at the Student Money Management Center (SMMC) would like to help our fellow University of Illinois employees gain headway in establishing good savings behaviors.

Background

The Student Money Management Center (SMMC), a unit created by University Student Financial Services and Cashier Operations (USFSCO) to facilitate money management education on all three University of Illinois campuses, and University of Illinois Extension, coordinators of the Urbana Financial Wellness Program, has partnered with America Saves, a campaign coordinated by the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America (CFA)  that is dedicated to helping individuals save money, reduce debt, and build wealth, to promote saving as a necessary behavior for financial success.  

America Saves has a long-standing relationship with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus through their support of Young Illinois Saves, an initiative through the Economic Awareness Council that Tracy Frizzell has facilitated over the past several years.  Their efforts have been made successful with students through support of student leaders on the campus.  In addition, Illinois Saves, a statewide initiative developed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), began last year to promote the Bank on Illinois initiative to help graduates of state-certified financial literacy programs have access to free savings accounts.  More information can be found here, on the Illinois Saves initiative. 

Another component of the America Saves initiative is America Saves Week, http://www.americasavesweek.org/, which is when our competition begins.  Many government, non-profit and private entities participate in America Saves Week.

Competition Description

Individuals affiliated with the University of Illinois will register by signing up as a “Saver” at the following website: http://universityillinoissaves.org/.  The campus to sign up the highest ratio of students, faculty and staff as “savers” on our America Saves campaign web page will win.

Websites affiliated with the winning campus will also get exclusive rights to post a digital trophy announcing their collective savings accomplishment.

How to Win

Sign up as a SAVER; it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Go to www.universityillinoissaves.org
2. Fill out the informational form
3. Start saving & tell a friend!

How to provide support as a U of I College, Department, or Unit

We are looking for partners on each campus to help facilitate the success of this competition, and you can help!  There are several ways to be involved as a partner.  Check out your options listed below!

- If you have a website, listserv, or newsletter you would like to include the competition in, please let us know.  We would be happy to provide the appropriate information for the type of audience you serve.
- Have an event that you would like us to attend or an office you would like us to set up an information table at?  Let us know the date and place, and we can work something out. 
- If you don’t have space for an information table or room in your correspondence but still want to be involved, we can provide flyers, posters and other printed materials for you to display and distribute.
- Campus partners will be listed on our website, studentmoney.uillinois.edu, as well as the campaign website, www.universityillinoissaves.org.

If you are interested in being a partner, please send an email to studentmoney@uillinois.edu, please be sure to include how you are able to be involved!