The real world is right around the corner, and while Stony Brook students may be well versed in science, literature and history, many are clueless when it comes to banking, money management and mortgages.
For students who are not quite ready for the real world, Stony Brook will be hosting a Financial Planning course where students can learn the essentials of personal finance.
The 10-week course will focus on budgeting, banking, credit building, credit rehabilitation for those with bad credit and mortgages, especially for first time home buyers. The non-credit course will be offered through the School of Personal Finance.
According to Linda Igbokwe, who will be teaching this course at the university, she had also sent out information on this course to other schools on Long Island, but Stony Brook picked it right up.
Amy Margolies, the acting director for career development programs, brought Igbokwe in and the school decided this would be a good program to offer students.
“We decided the subject area is one many people would be interested in,” Frank Esposito, assistant director of career and development programs, said. “Especially with the economy being what it is.” This is the first time a program in personal finance has been available at Stony Brook.
“We are just excited for it to start,” Margolies said.
Linda Igbokwe, who has been working in financial business since 2006, will be teaching the course. Igbokwe, who started her own company called One Savvy Dollar in April, will graduate with a master’s degree in accounting in December.
Before finding her place in finance, Igbokwe wanted to go into law and holds an associate’s degree in paralegal studies. However, she did not see law school as the right fit. She had been working in a bank so when it was time for her to pick a different route, she knew personal finance was the direction she wanted to go into. “It is something I am passionate about,” she said.
“Everyone is going to get out of school some time and get into the real world and this is real world stuff,” Igbokwe said about the course. She added that now is the best time for college students to start learning about their financial future.
“There is no program like this out there,” she said. “These are things you aren’t going to necessary going to learn in school.”
Igbokwe started her own company in April called “One Savvy Dollar,” which teaches personal finance to college students, businesses and others trying to improve their personal finances.
The personal finance course will run Thursday nights from 6:30 to 9 p.m. starting Thurs., Oct. 10 through Dec. 19 in the Social and Behavioral Sciences building. The cost of the course is $399. It is open to 15 to 20 students. According to Margolies, the small class size will create a good dynamic. There is still room in this small class for students wanting to get savvy about their dollar. Interested students can visit http://www.stonybrook.edu/spd/ and sign up.
