Success Program Launch: Financial Investment in Student Well-Being

The University of Kentucky is supporting students’ financial wellness after graduation by helping them create investment and savings accounts and offering financial incentives for healthy behaviors.

UK Invests allows learners to create a savings and investment account through a university-sponsored app and to receive funds as they complete activities on campus related to wellness and community involvement.

What’s the need: The University of Kentucky established UK Invests following the 2021 Supreme Court case National Collegiate Athletic Association vs. Alton, which allowed student athletes to earn money from their names, images and likenesses.

Additionally, around 30 percent of UK’s learners are first-generation students, and 25 percent come from low-income families, making financial support and education important in their overall success after college.

UK Invests launched in fall 2022 as a way to encourage healthy behaviors and academic success among students, in addition to providing financial education and preparation for the student’s life after graduation.

How it works: The university partnered with Fidelity Investments to use its app to host student accounts, building off a previous partnership for faculty and staff retirement accounts.

After downloading the app, students can open a savings account and investment account. There’s no dollar requirement to keep the account open, but Fidelity provides a $50 bonus for students who deposit a minimum of $25.

In fall 2022, the program opened to student athletes and then expanded to residence hall advisers and ROTC members in spring 2023, with around 300 students holding accounts at present. Starting fall 2023, all of UK’s 30,000-plus students will be eligible to create an account, but no one will be required to do so.

The university gives funds to students who participate in wellness activities, such as completing a financial education course on iGrad, attending an event at the career center, participating in a mindfulness training, going to a campus event or completing a résumé review.

The logistics: To track student behaviors, UK is using three platforms: Handshake, SUMO and BBNvolved. After a student checks in to the event using one of the three platforms, the data are shared to the university’s central CRM. Each month, participation data are translated into a dollar amount, which is then deposited into the student’s account.

Each event has its own dollar value: an in-person event could be a gift of $50 versus a recording of that event only $25. Students can learn about incentivized events and their value on Canvas, as well as how to register.

The program is co-managed by Kirsten Turner, vice president for student success, and Eric N. Monday, executive vice president for finance and administration—representing a collaboration between student support services and financial education with retirement programs, IT and marketing.

The two administrators’ offices also support the Smart Campus Initiative, which emphasizes the use of technology and an innovation at UK to level the technological playing field for students.

The initiative is currently funded by $1 million in private philanthropy, with hopes for additional donor contributions in the future. UK administrators also budgeted around $75,000 for marketing and activation.

UK Invests has one dedicated staff member in the program, with several others who participate in a standing group for oversight.

Future investments: As the initiative grows up this fall, UK’s institutional research and analytics team tracks rates of interest and involvement in the program among the eligible student cohorts. The university marketing team also held focus groups, gathering qualitative analysis of student interest and efficacy of the program.

In addition, officials are also evaluating the potential of conducting a longitudinal study on the initiative to understand how students are utilizing the program and acquiring healthy habits—which, as Turner says, “we know will benefit them for a lifetime.”

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