SAN DIEGO--iGrad has partnered with the University of North Georgia (UNG) to provide its customized, interactive online and mobile student financial wellness platform to the public senior military college’s nearly 20,000 students.

iGrad’s platform at UNG1 includes comprehensive customized and interactive information on everything from building and maintaining good credit, budgeting and money management to student loan/debt management and loan calculators.

UNG is part of the University System of Georgia and is designated as a State Leadership Institution and The Military College of Georgia. Its five campuses are located in Dahlonega, Oakwood (Gainesville), Watkinsville (Oconee), Cumming and Blue Ridge.

UNG Student Money Management Center Director Erick Jones said the university’s overall goal of offering iGrad is to help move students from being financially literate to being financially capable. 

“iGrad provides us with a massive toolbox to address the many needs of our diverse student body, allowing us to teach not just the concepts involved in personal finance, but also why they matter,” Jones said. “As with many multi-campus institutions, it’s challenging to always be in the right place at the right time. iGrad’s online platform helps our Student Money Management Center maintain a consistent presence on all five campuses.” 

Research shows that financial literacy programs can decrease financial stress, improve academic performance, and teach students how to manage their finances for a lifetime. 

“Students can have a hard time opening up about their financial worries,” Jones said. “They unjustly shame themselves for not having the knowledge they assume that their peers do. iGrad’s financial wellness checkup tool provides a platform for them to anonymously identify the areas where they have room to grow, and through those insights, we are able to craft programming that addresses the needs of our students.”

Bolstering student financial literacy is a priority for many colleges and universities. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, college enrollment has declined 5.1 percent, with “unprecedented” declines among students from low-income or high-poverty high schools, according to a recent report2 by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics3 shows that, even pre-pandemic, the degree achievement rate for all students nationally was only about 62 percent.

“Students, colleges and universities are facing tremendous financial challenges that impact enrollment, graduation rates and the level of student loan debt, which is already the second-largest category of debt in the country,” said iGrad Vice President of Business Development Todd Woodlee. “UNG has prioritized student financial literacy and we are thrilled to be a key part of their efforts.”

iGrad is currently used by more than 600 public and private colleges and universities of all sizes, including Wake Forest University, University of Northern Colorado, Emerson College and Cleveland State University.

Based on artificial intelligence and proprietary algorithms, iGrad personalizes financial information for each student’s situation and needs. It also offers:

  • Tools, quizzes, videos, articles and a library of multimedia content.
  • A student loan tracking tool which aggregates student loan balances and estimates monthly payments, helping to prepare students for these payments after graduation.
  • Because it adapts to each user’s specific circumstances, it can even provide interactive educational content on retirement and mortgages to those who need it.

About iGrad

iGrad is a San Diego-based financial technology company that provides artificial intelligence-powered financial wellness solutions to more than 2.7 million students at 600 colleges and universities, over 20,000 employers and over 300 financial institutions. iGrad’s Your Money Personality™ was recently recognized by the Institute for Financial Literacy with the 2020 Excellence in Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE) Adults’ Education Program of the Year award. iGrad is one of three 2020 honorees in the inaugural Barron's Celebrates: Financial Empowerment, after being selected by a team of judges for its contributions to improving the financial health and security of Americans. iGrad recently received the 2022 Eddy Award for Financial Wellness by Pensions & Investments for its Enrich platform. For more information about the iGrad platform, visit https://www.igradfinancialwellness.com. For more information about the Enrich platform for employers and financial institutions, visit http://www.enrich.org.

 

 

1 - https://ung.igrad.com/

2 - https://nscresearchcenter.org/current-term-enrollment-estimates/

3 - https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_ctr.asp