What Is Financial Wellness?
Emerson’s Financial Wellness Program provides resources and tools to help students manage costs and feel confident in their financial decisions from their first year through graduation and beyond. As Emerson prepares you academically, so, too, do we prepare you financially, to make informed choices and successfully manage your livelihood. Reach out and connect with us. Your financial wellness is our number one priority.
Who We Are
Financial Wellness works collaboratively with the offices of Student Success, Financial Aid, and Student Accounts to provide financial education programming and resources to support the whole student. Carol Smolinsky is the director of the Financial Wellness Program and is your go-to resource when it comes to demystifying paying for college and your daily living expenses.
Available Resources
Counseling
Be proactive about your financial wellness and sign up for one of our workshops or webinars. If you do have a financial concern involving more than a simple financial aid or billing question, feel free to schedule an appointment with an Accredited Financial Counselor®!
Tax Information
We are unable to help students prepare or file their tax returns. The IRS VITA program (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) may be able to assist. Visit the IRS VITA locator page. The VITA program offers free tax help to people who generally make $54,000 or less. IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified individuals. Students should be sure to check out the What to Bring page to ensure they have all required documents and information. They do require an appointment and can be reached at 617-348-6583.
Online Wellness Platform
We partner with iGrad, an online platform that provides financial wellness tools, educational content, a private scholarship search engine, and monthly opportunities to win money by participating in educational challenges. Create your free account to access personal finance planning tools, online courses, articles, videos, and a searchable scholarship database! Check it out at igrad.com/emerson.
Workshops, Webinars, and Events
Emerson schedules workshops, webinars, and events throughout the semester covering a range of topics such as saving, budgeting, credit, and managing student debt. All of our programming is announced on our central hub on EmConnect, Financial Wellness (formerly Money Matters).
Self-Service Directory of Resources
If self-service suits you best, migrate over to the Emerson ConcernCenter and click on the financial resources bar. There you can identify your concern by name—anything from “can’t afford to get home for break” to “need a job” to “student loan management.” Whichever support network you need for each specific concern will be at your fingertips.