Building financial life skills and empowering students to THRIVE.
About MCCFW
The Maryland Center for Collegiate Financial Wellness (MCCFW) is an extension of the SPIN Project. SPIN, short for Campus-Based Financial Education in Maryland: A Survey of Postsecondary Institutions, was commissioned in 2018 by the Woodside Foundation, written by Tisa Silver Canady, EdD, MBA, and published in partnership with the CASH Campaign of Maryland to:
identify financial education offerings provided by postsecondary institutions in Maryland and
gauge institutional interest in collaborative opportunities to provide financial education.
SPIN includes insight from individuals representing 29 institutions in Maryland. The project revealed a gap in the delivery of financial education to postsecondary students and an overwhelming interest from campus administrators to join a statewide network to collaborate and/or coordinate on future student financial education programming.
SPIN united campus leaders around the cause of advancing financial wellness as essential to campus-based student success initiatives. An informal network has grown however formal structure and administrative resources are necessary to support future growth and efficacy.
After consulting with partners from the CASH Campaign of Maryland and the Woodside Foundation, Tisa Silver Canady decided to create a non-profit organization, the Maryland Center for Collegiate Financial Wellness, to respond to identified needs in Maryland.
Vision
All college and career school students in Maryland are:
Creditworthy. We want students to develop life skills necessary to manage their financial obligations including student loan debt.
Ready. We want students prepared for the financial responsibility and academic focus of collegiate education and ready for success on the first day of each academic term.
Resilient. We want students to be aware of and have access to campus and community support services that will help them overcome obstacles to collegiate success, especially in the event of an issue that requires emergency financial assistance.
Empowered. We want students to enter the financial marketplace capable of making informed decisions and protecting themselves against fraud and exploitation.
Successful. We want students to complete a degree or credential program and fulfill the purpose for which they enrolled.
Thriving. We want students to complete their collegiate experience prepared to set and achieve personal financial goals that are in line with their individual preferences, circumstances, and priorities.
Mission
The Maryland Center for Collegiate Financial Wellness (MCCFW) fosters a continuum of campus-based financial wellness programming and supports that build financial life skills and empower students to thrive. MCCFW recognizes the challenges to financing collegiate education and promotes informed decision-making for students and families at critical decision points, including college/career selection and the borrowing and repayment of student loans. MCCFW executes its mission by:
providing educational resources to prospective, current, and former students, with an emphasis on serving students who traditionally lack access to high-quality financial education and face the greatest financial barriers to matriculation, completion, and/or student loan repayment,
coordinating a statewide network of college and career school professionals and providing guidance on how to create and/or grow high-quality campus-based financial wellness programs, and
advocating for investment in programs and implementation of policies that advance collegiate financial wellness