Madison Long
Life Editor
Transitioning from a cool, stocked fridge and gas bills paid by your parents to being in charge of transportation to class, housing and tuition can be a bit of a shock.
Professors at the College of Business share that some students take on too much debt too quickly with loans or credit card bills.
However, the College of Business has found a free solution to teach more than just business students about personal and financial success, hopefully saving them money and heartache up front.
“Regardless of your major, having an understanding of personal finance and different ways that you can leverage the income you bring in and make wise decisions, it’s a great thing for anyone,” says Alex Bolinger, a professor of management and recent interim dean for the College of Business.
April 6-9, 2026 held the fourth annual College of Business Financial Literacy Week. With free events held throughout the week, students have the opportunity to win cash prizes, and learn more about financial planning, taxes, insurance, smart purchasing, retirement and scholarship planning.
The event originally started with past College of Business Dean Shane Hunt, who according to assistant professor of finance Chris Chatwin, was passionate about the need for financial literacy and adding on to April’s national financial literacy month.
Students could get involved with Monday’s “Adulting 101: Buying a Car and a Home,” Tuesday’s film showing of “The Ultimate Gift,” Wednesday’s keynote speaker Chris Peterson of New West Knife Works and Thursday’s long-term financial future lecture.
“I’d say attend, even if you don’t think it applies to you,” says Chatwin. “I think about the Museum of Clean slogan, ‘come interested, leave inspired.’ That’s what I’d love to see for my students.”
Funding for the event has shifted across the years. Wells Fargo sponsored the first two years of the event, before stepping away for Idaho Central Credit Union (ICCU) and local state farm agent Aaron Moore to take over last year.
With Dean Hunt leaving in June 2025 for a position of President of Cameron University in Oklahoma, Connections Credit Union and ICCU had to step in at the last minute to keep financial literacy week continuing.
Chatwin hopes that Connections CU will plan to stay on as a future sponsor, opening up the opportunity to develop pop-up workshops throughout the week.
He wants to remind students that personal finance is more personal than it is finance and that all students have the chance to use financial literacy week to gather information and understand personal goals, values, and visions for future decisions.
“I think it’s a demonstration of how much ISU cares about students, because not only do we want you to get great class experience, but we care about you as people and about providing you with some of those life skills,” says Bolinger.
Along with financial literacy week, ISU offers a financial literacy certificate open to all majors. Chatwin also teaches a three-credit personal finance course (Fin 1115) to develop budgeting, borrowing, planning, investing, estate planning and insurance knowledge. This course satisfies objective eight of the general education requirements for undergraduate students.
For more information, check out https://www.isu.edu/cob/flw/, and attend April 2027’s Financial Literacy Week.
