CLU To Start Online Financial Center
Web site will provide advice to single mothers, widows and minority women
The California Lutheran University School of Business has received a $40,000 grant to start an online financial center for low-income and minority women.
The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards grant, one of eight throughout the country that were announced on July 30, will fund the first two years of the California Institute of Finance Information Center for Women starting with the fall semester.
The online center will provide financial planning services to women who typically don’t work with an expert but could benefit greatly from the help. The target groups include minorities, single mothers, widows and low- to middle-income earners.
Services will include personal budgeting, debt relief, children’s education funding, and divorce and retirement planning. Most information will be supplied for free. More comprehensive individualized counseling will be available for a modest fee.
About 180 students in CLU’s MBA and financial planning programs will help develop the online center. They will also provide answers to questions submitted online under the supervision of a faculty member with financial expertise. This will enable students to gain practical experience and an understanding of the financial-planning problems faced by the target populations while performing a community service.
“We expect CLU’s project will not only help individuals in the immediate community, but also become a role model to help others across the country reach similar communities,” said CFP Board spokesperson Tim Stifel.
The Certified Financial Planner Board provides grants to innovative and sustainable projects that reach people who are traditionally not served by the profession. CLU’s grant will cover the start-up costs for the online center. After two years, nominal fees charged for the more comprehensive services should cover operating costs. The University will donate faculty, staff and student time.
For more information, contact California Institute of Finance Director Somnath Basu, Ph.D., at (805) 493-3980 or basu@callutheran.edu.